§ Lord Marlesfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the new arrangements, announced in the House of Lords on 12th April, for passing appropriate information about the prison population of England and Wales to the Department of Social Security to prevent National Insurance fraud are also in operation in Scotland and Northern Ireland and how many prisoners in each of those countries have been found to be drawing social security benefit to which they are not entitled.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Viscount Astor)Details of Scottish prisoners serving sentence are being36WA checked against benefit records. The number of fraudulent claims will not be known until these checks are complete. The arrangements in Northern Ireland are currently being re-examined.