§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will update the report on the cost of employing special investigators given to the hon. Member for Birkenhead on 21 May 1981,Official Report, c. 164-65.
§ Mr. RossiThe cost of salaries and necessary incidental expenses of the total force of special investigators in the 1981–82 year is estimated to have been £6.6 million. In the latter half of the year some 25 per cent. of special investigators were diverted from special investigation work to specialist claims control.
§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will update the information concerning abuse of social security benefits given to the hon. Member for Birkenhead on 21 May 1981,Official Report, c. 163-64.
§ Mr. RossiThe information requested is as follows:
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Total Fraud on the part of the claimant or other person not being a servant of the department £ £ Family benefit 986,544 125,058 Unemployment benefit 4,873,729 434,155 Sickness and invalidity benefit 3,197,015 465,081 Maternity benefit 100,081 6,295 Widows benefit 348,528 118,657 Retirement pension 1,193,066 73,830 Industrial injury benefits 236,321 16,895 Others 271,778 17,090 Supplementary benefit 13,587,938 3,626,485 War pensions 107,757 35,497 Total 24,902,757 4,919,043
§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will update the information on social security investigations given to the hon. Member for Birkenhead on 21 May 1981,Official Report, c. 164-65.
§ Mr. RossiThe information is as follows:
1981–82 1980–81 (a)Public authority expenditure on social security payments £m 27,375 (b)Total amount of irrecoverable overpayments £m 43.3(provisional) £m 24.9* (c)The amount of known overpayment through fraud Not avail able see Note 2 (d)The number of prosecutions for suspected fraud (see Note 3) 19,575 (e)Number of successful prosecutions (see Note 3) 19,112 (f)(e)as a percentage of(d) 98% (g)Number of DHSS special investigators in post (see Note 4) 572 (h)The estimated gross savings made as a result of special investigation work (see Note 5) £m 49 (i)The estimated cost of special investigators (see Note 6) £m 6.6 (j) (i)as a percentage of(h)(see Note 4) 13.5% *Not available at the time of previous question Note 1.(a)and (6) refer to financial years. The other items are years ending February. Prosecution figures for 1981–82 are for the period February 1981 to February 1982.
Note 2. The amounts involved in fraud cases are not recorded. The full amount obtained by fraud in some individual cases may not be known.
Note 3. Figures include DHSS and DE prosecutions, but exclude prosecutions by the Police and Post Office.
Note 4. The figure refers to staff in post in April 1981. In the latter half of 1981–82 some 25 per cent. of Special Investigators were diverted from special investigation work to Specialist Claims Control.
Note 5. The figure relates to savings achieved from special investigation work.
Note 6. Estimate based on the cost of salaries, national insurance contributions and necessary incidental expenses.
§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will update the information given to the hon. Member for Birkenhead on fraudulent claims on 21 May 1981,Official Report, c. 162-66.
§ Mr. RossiThe latest information is as follows:
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Year ended Prosecution Convictions 17 February 1981 30,116 29,437 16 February 1982 25,654 24,772