Written question asked by Andrew Rosindell (Conservative) on Tuesday, 18 November 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 20 November 2008. It was answered by Tony McNulty (Labour) on Wednesday, 26 November 2008 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of calls reporting benefit fraud led to a successful conviction in the last period for which figures are available.

Answer: Every call to the National Benefit Fraud Hotline is examined by the Department. Where there is enough evidence the case is then passed to either the Fraud Investigation Service for investigation or to our compliance teams in Jobcentres, who will scrutinise the relevant benefit claim and make adjustments to entitlements.In the period from April 2006 to March 2007, there were 215,924 calls to the National Benefit Fraud Hotline; 41,060 of which were suitable for investigation by fraud investigators.In the majority of these cases benefit was adjusted and recovery action initiated but where there is a significant loss to public funds and it is considered in the public interest, prosecutions are considered. 451 convictions followed from referrals to the Hotline out of a total of 6,878 convictions in 2006-07."Notes:""1. Count for number of investigations and convictions relates to DWP investigations only recorded on FIBS""2. Figures are for GB only."

Secondary information