§ Earl Russellasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, further to paragraph 3 of the Government's reply to the Fifth Report of the House of Commons Select Committee on Social Security, they accept that free telephone referral lines "to make it easier for the public to pass on information about people they believe to be defrauding benefits" may he used for motives of malice as well as for the pubic interest, and whether they will therefore give an undertaking that claimants will not have their benefit stopped as a result of such information until further investigation has been undertaken.
§ Lord Mackay of ArdbrecknishThe department is aware that some allegations of benefit fraud against claimants may be made maliciously. It is not the department's policy to stop benefit until an investigation has been undertaken, and evidence which could affect the amount of benefit has been established.