§ Mr. John MarshallTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on his Department's initiative to counter unemployment benefit fraud.
§ Mr. LeeThe White Paper "Training for Employment" issued earlier this year outlined the importance the Government place on ensuring that benefits are paid only to those entitled to receive them and re-emphasised our determination to reduce fraudulent claims.
To this end my Department has increased its resources devoted to fraud detection, particularly in London and the south-east where a new inner London fraud team is being set up.
There are more investigations being conducted into the hidden economy—over 223,000 in the first half of 1988–89 compared with 185,000 for the same period in 1987–88—with particular emphasis on targeting collusive employers.
There is also an increasing level of co-operation between my Department and the Department of Social Security and the Inland Revenue on the investigation of fraudulent benefit claims.