To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what further action his Department is taking to reduce fraud.

This year an extra £10 million has been allocated to the Benefits Agency to provide additional trained staff in key areas, the development of information technology and further research to help step up the fight against fraud and abuse.We have also introduced new financial incentives to encourage local authorities to crack down on housing benefit fraud.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has of the extent of fraud in the social security budget; and what steps he is proposing to take to combat it.

Although the full extent of social security fraud is not known, a target of nearly £1 billion fraud savings has been set for 1993–94. The Benefits Agency has been allocated an additional £10 million for each of the next three years to allow the deployment of more investigators and to finance other anti-fraud initiatives. New financial incentives have also been introduced to encourage local authorities to combat housing benefit/ council tax benefit fraud.