asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will give an estimate of the sums involved in the abuse of the social security system over the last five years, the number of legal proceedings brought in each year for social security payment abuse and details of amounts recovered by legal action.

Detected fraud led to losses rising from about £1 million in 1970–71 to about £2 million in 1974–75. Changes in the system of recording over-payments of benefit prevent the giving of accurate figures which are comparable. The number of legal proceedings for benefit fraud in the five years ending 1974, the last year for which information is at present available, was as follows:1970, 7,707; 1971, 9,648; 1972, 12,229; 1973, 11,938; 1974, 13,693.No record is kept of amounts recovered by legal action.