§ Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the total number and cost of all forms of fraud affecting his Department and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies, as set out in the returns to Her Majesty's Treasury for departmental fraud for each year since 1990–91; and if he will make a statement. [6138]
§ Mr. HealdThe Department's annual returns to Her Majesty's Treasury for years 1990–91 to 1993–94 are set out in Table 1. Since the number of full-time fraud investigators dealing with departmental fraud was786W increased in 1993, the number of successful investigations has increased. The return for 1994–95 is set out in the table 2.
Table 1 Year Number of cases in which disciplinary action taken Loss to public funds 1990–91 14 £45,892 1991–92 8 £18,962 1992–93 22 £138,608 1993–94 15 £114,780
Table 2: Fraud established in completed investigations (1994–95) Number None 146 Travel and subsistence 11 False accounting 1 Failure to receipt 2 Unauthorised access 15 Unauthorised disclosure 3 Giro/order book fraud 6 Theft 2 False employment details 3 Other 13 Total completed 202 Total where fraud established 56 Established loss to public funds in 1994–95 Total £169.145.76