§ Mr. Kirkwoodasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many cases of living together as husband and wife by recipients of benefit (a) have been notified to him over the past year of available records, (b) were referred to (i) a nominated officer, (ii) a fraud officer and ( iii) a special investigator and (c) resulted in benefit being (y) refused or (z) withdrawn.
§ Dr. BoysonInformation relating to the number of notifications received of cases involving living together as husband and wife and of the number of such cases subsequently referred to nominated officers, fraud officers or to special investigators is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The numbers of claims withdrawn or refused on the grounds of living together as husband and wife are as follows:
Supplementary Benefit* Widow's Benefit† One Parent Benefit‡ Refused Withdrawn Refused Withdrawn Refused Withdrawn 6,464 6,299 N/A 1,562 651 4,260 * Figures relate to the period 23 November 1982 to 22 November 1983. † Figures relate to the period 1 January 1983 to 31 December 1983. Information about the number of cases in which widow's benefit was refused is not available. ‡ Figures relate to the period 5 January 1983 to 4 January 1984.
§ Mr. Kirkwoodasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many prosecutions for fraud there have been as a result of departmental investigations of persons living together as husband and wife; and how many resulted in a conviction.
§ Dr. BoysonThe information requested is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, in the year 1982–83 2,898 cases of discovered fraud involved persons living together as husband and wife and a further 475 cases concerned fictitious desertion. These cases represent 7.3 per cent. of all discovered fraud in 1982–83.