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Written question asked by Lord Harper (Conservative) on Wednesday, 3 February 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 5 February 2010. It was answered by Jonathan Shaw (Labour) on Friday, 5 March 2010 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Departmental Manpower

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many full-time equivalent staff there have been in her Department's (a) Fraud Investigation Service and (b) Organised Fraud Unit in each year since 2006.
Answer

The available information is in the table (data are not available prior to 2007):

Numbers of full-time equivalent staff in Fraud Investigation Service and Organised Fraud Unit since 2007
Date Total number of Fraud Investigation staff (excluding Organised Fraud Unit staff) Total number of Organised Fraud Unit staff
March 2007 2,785 233
March 2008 2,671 201
March 2009 2,564 214
September 2009 2,557 218

The decrease in the total number of Fraud Investigation Service staff needs to be seen against the pre-recession spending review efficiency challenge. There have been significant productivity gains and elimination of waste that have seen record numbers of benefit thieves caught and sanctioned. The numbers in the Organised Fraud Unit are a reflection of our commitment to tackle the serious and organised fraudsters who abuse the benefits system.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
506 c1421-2W; 316364
Session
2009-10
Related items
Written Questions: Government Responses
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects
Department for Work and Pensions Staff
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk