§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will enumerate the prosecutions that have resulted from the operations of specialist claims control in England, Wales and Scotland for the years 1981–82, 1982–83 and 1983–84.
§ Dr. BoysonSeparate statistics are not maintained of the number of prosecutions resulting from specialist claims control.
§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will detail the amounts from the savings in 1982–83 as a result of specialist claims control that are due to (a) benefits temporarily withdrawn but later restored and (b) benefits reduced as a result of original departmental errors in computation.
§ Dr. BoysonThe information requested is not available.
§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what procedures are available to the benefit claimant to appeal against the decisions of specialist claims control.
§ Dr. BoysonDecisions on claims which have been the subject specialist claims control scrutiny are made by 267W supplementary benefits officers, not by specialist claims control staff. These decisions are open to the normal appeals procedures.
§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services why claimants who are unemployed but fit are regarded as candidates for random investigation by specialist claims control officers.
§ Dr. BoysonThe selection of cases for specialist claims control scrutiny is not random but is based on clearly laid down criteria that identify those cases which experience suggests are likely to carry a particularly high fraud risk.