§ Mr. Pattieasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list for each quarter of 1978 the number of convictions for national insurance benefit frauds and related instrument of payment offences.
§ Mr. Orme:Quarterly figures of convictions for benefit fraud are not available, and are not obtainable except at disproportionate cost. The latest annual figures available are for February 1977 to February 1978; the number of convictions in Great Britain for national insurance benefit frauds and national insurance instrument of payment offences was 8,189. The corresponding figure for 1978–79 will not be available until about April of this year.