HC Deb 15 January 1980 vol 976 cc714-5W
Mr. Arthur Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will give for the longest and most convenient stated period of time the number of prosecutions instituted by his Department against persons for actual or attempted defrauding of the social services in any way; to what extent these were successful or unsuccessful; what were the amounts of money involved in these frauds; to what extent these cases were of persons convicted who have had their fines paid for out of public funds; how much money

Social Security Fraud Year ended 31st December Year ended 20th February
1974 1975 1976 1978 1979
Total number Prosecuted 13,716 15,362 19,077 26,058 29,147
Number Convicted 13,475 15,025 18,711 25,615 28,575

The totals include cases prosecuted by the police and Post Office and, in the case of unemployment benefit, by the Department of Employment.