Written question asked by Danny Alexander (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 26 February 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 8 March 2010. It was answered by Helen Goodman (Labour) on Monday, 8 March 2010 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in respect of how many people allegations of benefit fraud were investigated in (a) Scotland, (b) the Highlands and (c) England and Wales in each of the last three years; how many such people were subsequently (i) cautioned and (ii) prosecuted and convicted of such offences in each such year; and how many of those convicted in each such year received a (A) custodial sentence, (B) community sentence and (C) discharge.

Answer

The available information is in the tables:

Number of investigations
	National	Scotland	England and Wales
2006-07	128,443	—	—
2007-08	194,549	—	—
2008-09	156,089	14,574	141,515
Notes: 1. The number of people investigated and cautioned was collected on a national basis only for 2006-07 and 2007-08 and cannot therefore be provided for Scotland, the Highlands, England and Wales. 2. The information requested is available for 2008-09. However, figures for the Highlands cannot be separated out and are included within those for Scotland. Source: Fraud and Error by Sector (FIBS) and Fraud Referral and Intervention Management system (FRAIMS).

Number of cautions
	National	Scotland	England and Wales
2006-07	11,976	—	—
2007-08	12,821	—	—
2008-09	14,320	1,738	12,582
Notes: 1. The number of people investigated and cautioned was collected on a national basis only for 2006-07 and 2007-08 and cannot therefore be provided for Scotland, the Highlands, England and Wales. 2. The information requested is available for 2008-09. However, figures for the Highlands cannot be separated out and are included within those for Scotland. Source: Fraud and Error by Sector (FIBS) and Fraud Referral and Intervention Management system (FRAIMS).

Numbers of convictions, custodial sentences, community sentences and discharges in England and Wales
	Conviction	Custodial sentence	Community sentence	Discharge
2006-07	6,756	613	2,387	1,732
2007-08	7,628	511	2,703	2,202
2008-09	6,581	463	2,442	1,516
Notes: 1. The number of people convicted and receiving a custodial/community sentence and discharge cannot be broken down for England and Wales. 2. The figures provided for convictions do not necessarily relate to the investigations undertaken in the years mentioned above because of the time taken to progress cases through the courts. Source: Sol Prosecution's Division Computerised Information System.

Numbers of convictions, custodial sentences, community sentences and discharges in Scotland
	Conviction	Custodial sentence	Community sentence	Discharge
2006-07	105	3	28	2
2007-08	117	11	77	5
2008-09	119	4	65	0
Note: In Scotland, responsibility for prosecutions lies with the Procurator Fiscal. The figures represent cases where information on outcomes has been provided by the Procurator Fiscal to the Department for Work and Pensions and recorded on our systems. Consequently, they may not be complete. The figures for the Highlands cannot be separated out and are included within those for Scotland. Source: Fraud and Error by Sector (FIBS) and Fraud Referral and Intervention Management system (FRAIMS).

Secondary information