§ Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the total amount of benefits currently being paid by his Department to claimants who are living in vehicles attached to the convoy of itinerants currently in the vicinity of Stonehenge; what steps are taken by his Department to ensure that no benefits are paid in respect of fraudulent claims; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LeeMy Department does not keep records which show the amount of benefit paid to special groups of claimants. My Department has over 800 officers engaged exclusively in the investigation of benefit fraud. They liaise with their counterparts in the Department of Health and Social Security to ensure that every suspicion of benefit fraud is investigated. Because of the nature of their travels, the itinerants gathering at Stonehenge are unlikely to be committing the most common sort of benefit fraud, which is working and signing. If they are drawing benefit, however, they may be infringing the benefit system by not being available for work. Availability for work is rigorously enforced by my Department through the availability questionnaire which I announced in the House on 1 December 1987. Instructions issued to officials in the south-west require them to apply the full test of availability to any unemployed person claiming benefit.