Written question asked by James Clappison (Conservative) on Thursday, 29 January 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 3 February 2009. It was answered by Tony McNulty (Labour) on Monday, 11 May 2009 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people (a) received a caution and (b) were convicted in respect of a benefit fraud offence in each of the last eight quarters for which figures are available; and how many of those convicted received a (i) discharge, (ii) fine, (iii) community sentence, (iv) suspended sentence and (v) custodial sentence.

Answer

[holding answer 3 February 2009]: The available information for DWP administered benefits is in the following table:

	Cautions	Convictions	Discharges	Fines	Community service	Suspended sentence	Custodial sentence
2006-07
Q1	3,282	1,846	511	259	663	99	223
Q2	3,221	1,770	424	196	689	156	146
Q3	2,970	1,412	343	148	476	130	138
Q4	2,503	1,833	456	225	587	145	109
Total	11,976	6,861	1,734	828	2,415	530	616

2007-08
Q1	3,853	1,772	528	236	656	193	97
Q2	3,914	2,200	557	238	742	257	105
Q3	3,454	1,606	470	230	642	202	107
Q4	1,600	2,167	652	257	740	309	213
Total	12,821	7,745	2,207	961	2,780	961	522
Notes:
Discharges, fines, community service, suspended sentence and custodial sentence 2006-07 data from FIBS and FRAIMS.
2007-08 discharges, fines, community service, suspended sentence and custodial sentence data from DWP/DH Legal Group.
Sources:
1. Conviction data for England and Wales from DWP/DH Legal Group.
2. Conviction data for Scotland from FIBS and FRAIMS.
3. Cautions data from FIBS and FRAIMS.

The available information for housing benefit is provided in the following table:

	Fraud investigations	Cautions	Admin penalties	Prosecutions	Guilty verdicts
2006-07
Q1	39,893	2,075	1,268	1,389	1,454
Q2	42,527	2,582	1,647	1,504	1,472
Q3	41,958	2,637	1,750	1,521	1,363
Q4	48,051	3,368	2,077	1,609	1,561

2007-08
Q1	43,473	2,956	2,065	1,483	1,563
Q2	46,606	3,627	2,392	1,767	1,673
Q3	38,417	3,029	2,029	1,554	1,575
Q4	32,278	2,957	1,930	1,807	1,682
Source:
Housing benefit operational database (HOBOD) based on the local authority administrative return called 'Stats 124'.

Secondary information