§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate, for each local authority, the total amount saved in benefit expenditure in the most recent year arising from anti-fraud initiatives; what this figure was as a percentage of the total expenditure on social security benefits administered by each local authority; and what his aggregate estimate is for Great Britain. [146318]
§ Mr. RookerWe aim to ensure that all our anti-fraud initiatives are effective in combating fraud and error. It is not always possible to quantify the precise savings of some measures as they are often designed to prevent fraud occurring in the first place rather than detecting fraud after the event.
However, the weekly benefit savings scheme provides a partial measure of benefit fraud based on what local authorities have detected. A table providing the information requested expressed in terms of weekly benefit savings for the most recent year available, 1998–99, was placed in the Library as part of my answer to the hon. Member on 9 June 2000, Official Report, column 409W.