§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will publish in theOfficial Report the numbers of staff employed in his Department's benefit fraud investigations for each year from 1979 to the latest available year;
311W(2) if he will publish in the Official Report the total number of prosecutions for social security benefit fraud for each of the years from 1979 to the most recent year for which figures are available;
(3) if he will publish in the Official Report an estimate of the total amount of money lost through benefit fraud in 1988.
§ Mr. Peter LloydPrecise figures are not available, but it is possible to estimate the numbers of full-time equivalent posts on the basis of records of staff time expended on fraud-related work. The numbers of full-time equivalent posts each year since 1979 have been as follows:
Year Number 1979–80 2,311 1980–81 2,336 1981–82 2,346 1982–83 2,185 1983–84 2,211 1984–85 2,204 1985–86 2,285 1986–87 2,390 1987–88 2,724 1988–89 2,940 Additional information requested is contained in my reply to the hon. Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen) on 31 January at column 192.