§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many claimants of supplementary benefit have been prosecuted for failure to maintain themselves or their dependants for each year since 1978.
§ Mr. RossiUnder Section 25 of the Supplementary Benefits Act 1976, persons may be prosecuted if they persistently refuse or neglect to maintain themselves or their dependants. The numbers of prosecutions of claimants over the last three years under this section were:
1978 7 1979 6 1980 2 I would point out that such prosecutions are very much a last resort because the main objective of unemployment review officers is to get people back into work.