The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major KG CH

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  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Benefit Fraud – 19 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Benefit Fraud on 19th June 1986.

    Mr. Meadowcroft Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what were the number of fraudulent benefit claims in Leeds in the years 1979 to 1985; and what was the average amount of money involved in each claim;
    (2) if he will state the number of fraudulent benefit claims as a proportion of total numbers of benefit claims, in the years 1979 to 1985;
    (3) if he will publish the average amount involved in (a) fraudulent benefit claims in the years 1979 to 1985 and (b) recovered from fraudulent claimants; and what is the average period of time over which repayments are made.

    Mr. Major The information requested is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

    Mr. Meadowcroft Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the number of his Department’s staff based in Leeds – and what proportion of these are assigned to investigating fraudulent benefit claims.

    Mr. Major On 1 June 1986 875.5 staff were employed at the six Leeds offices. The number of posts allocated to fraud work in these offices at that date was 27. The proportion of posts allocated to the investigation of fraudulent benefit claims as a percentage of total staff employed is just over 3 per cent.

    In addition, the specialist claims control teams based in the north-east region of the Department’s local office network will on occasion be involved in the investigation of fraudulent benefit claims in Leeds. These staff are not included in local office complements.

    Mr. Meadowcroft Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will state how many fraudulent benefit claims resulted in prosecution in 1985; and what was the number of prosecutions as a proportion of the total number of cases discovered.

    Mr. Major Six thousand, six hundred and seventy-six claimants were prosecuted by this Department for social security benefit fraud during 1985–86; this represents approximately 7 per cent. of those cases considered for legal proceedings.

    Mr. Meadowcroft Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the number of staff employed by his Department to investigate fraudulent benefit claims, in the years 1979 to 1986.

    Mr. Major I regret the information requested is not available for 1979. The following table sets out the number of staff allocated by the Department’s complementing system to fraud work for the years 1980 to 1986, and also includes specialist claims control staff not included in local office complements.

    Year | Number
    1980-81 | 2,044
    1981-82 | 1,945
    1982-83 | 2,284
    1983-84 | 2,216
    1984-85 | 2,488
    1985-86 | 2,804
    1986-87 | *3,673
    * Proposed

    Mr. Meadowcroft Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the estimated cost of fraudulent benefit claims in the years 1979 to 1986.

    Mr. Major No reliable estimate is available of the cost of social security benefit fraud.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Social Security Reform – 19 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Social Security Reform on 19th June 1986.

    Mr. Maples Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he may expect to receive a reply to his letter of 22 April to the Secretary of State concerning proposed reforms to the social security system.

    Mr. Major I replied to my hon. Friend yesterday.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on War Pensions – 18 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on War Pensions on 18th June 1986.

    Mr. Alfred Morris Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services by what percentage the war pensions budget has been reduced in each of the last five years due to the deaths of war pensioners and war widows; and if he has made any estimate of the likely reduction in 1986-87.

    Mr. Major There have been no reductions in the war pensions budget over the last five years. Although the number of war pensioners and war widows has been decreasing – by 18 per cent. over the period 1980–81 to 1985–86 – this has been more than offset by the effect of annual upratings and by real improvements to the structure of the benefit. Expenditure per beneficiary was 19 per cent. higher in real terms at the end of the period than at the beginning.

    On the assumptions underlying the 1986 public expenditure White Paper (Cmnd. 9702, Vol. II, part 3.15), expenditure on war pensions will be 2 per cent. higher in 1986-87 than in 1985-86, despite a 3.4 per cent. fall in the number of beneficiaries.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Criminal Offences – 18 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Criminal Offences on 18th June 1986.

    Mr. Evennett Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what advice has been issued to officials of his Department involved in interviewing those who may be charged with a criminal offence since the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 came into force.

    Mr. Major Guidance issued to fraud investigators in the Department reflects those parts of the codes of practice issued under sections 66 and 67 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 which deal with treatment and questioning. This guidance is available on request both to suspects and to members of the public generally: I am placing copies in the Library.

    In addition, detailed guidance which takes into account the relevant provisions contained in the Act and the associated codes of practice has been incorporated in the Department’s operational instructions to fraud investigators.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Benefits – 18 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Benefits on 18th June 1986.

    Mr. Allen Adams Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if there are any sources of information that officials from his Department may not take into account when assessing a claimant’s benefit; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr. Major Decisions on claims for social security benefits are made by independent adjudication officers using information put to them by officials acting for the Secretary of State. Officials may gather from any source readily available information which they consider relevant but it is the adjudication officer’s function to assess the relevance and reliability of any information or evidence in making his decision. If the hon. Member has a particular case in mind he may care to write to me.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Housing Benefit – 18 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Housing Benefit on 18th June 1986.

    Mr. Heddle Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report the percentage of domestic ratepayers in each local authority who receive housing benefit.

    Mr. Major Information is not available in the precise form requested. However, a table giving estimates of the average number of rate rebate recipients (based on local and regional authorities’ subsidy claims for 1985-86) as a proportion of the number of domestic hereditaments (subjects in Scotland) at April 1985 has been placed in the Library.

    Mr. Andrew Bowden Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the most recent annual estimate of take-up of standard housing benefit, housing benefit supplement and supplementary benefit among retirement pensioners; and what is the estimated total amount remaining unclaimed in each of these three categories.

    Mr. Major I shall let my hon. Friend have a reply as soon as possible.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Health Records (Law Enforcement) – 17 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Health Records (Law Enforcement) on 17th June 1986.

    Mr. Ashdown Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will describe the circumstances in which information may be disclosed from medical records and from National Health Service records for any purpose of law enforcement; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr. Major Safeguarding the confidentiality of medical and other National Health Service records is primarily an ethical matter for the health professionals concerned. The disclosure of identifiable personal information from such records for a purpose other than that for which it was obtained would usually require the agreement of the doctors concerned, who would decide whether the consent of the patient should also be sought.

    Professional guidance recognises that there may be cases, for example those involving serious crime, when the public interest outweighs the patient’s right to confidentiality. The decision to disclose information would usually be for the doctor to make in the light of the circumstances of a particular case.

    The department is currently preparing a Code on Confidentiality of Personal Health Information in the National Health Service which it is intended will be given statutory force and which will set out the limited circumstances in which personal health information may be disclosed without the patient’s consent.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Benefits (Fraud) – 17 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Benefits (Fraud) on 17th June 1986.

    Mr. Ashdown Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will describe the circumstances in which information from the National Health Service central register may be made available to regional office staff or to local office staff in the course of investigating actual or suspected fraud by social security claimants; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr. Major On request from a DHSS regional controller, National Health Service central register will supply the name and date of birth appropriate to a NHS number shown on a medical card that has been used as a means of identification when cashing a social security giro cheque which subsequently has been found to he fraudulent.

    NHSCR assistance is provided on the grounds that a person who voluntarily produces a medical card as evidence of identity should be willing to accept a check on that identity by the authorities concerned; and if the card used does not relate to the person who produced it the proper holder has apparently lost it and the current holder has no title to it.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on the NHS Central Register – 17 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on the NHS Central Register on 17th June 1986.

    Mr. Ashdown Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will name, list and describe what records are kept of disclosures of information from the National Health Services central register; and if he will publish a summary of the relevant statistics for 1985.

    Mr. Major The National Health Service central register is an integral part of the patient registration system administered by family practitioner committees. Patient information held there is limited to name, date of birth, NHS number and an indication of which FPC currently holds the patient’s registration with a NHS doctor.

    Disclosure of information from NHS central register records is almost entirely confined to FPCs and the NHS units for whom NHSCR acts as a clearing house for greater efficiency in the administration of Family Practitioner Services.

    Information relating to mortality and cancer registrations obtained via OPCS is also used to help researchers in approved medical research and statistical studies, and, also clinicians following up their own patients. Indirect assistance in communicating with patients is provided, with the approval and co-operation of FPC administrators, in circumstances which are clearly to the advantage of the patient or in cases of family separation, illness or bereavement. Assistance is provided to courts seeking to issue or enforce maintenance orders, or orders in respect of wards of court; to police in cases of serious crime and to DHSS to identify the owners of medical cards used in suspected fraudulent encashment of social security cheques.

    Apart from the disclosure of information to bodies within the National Health Service and to research studies, requests for information from other sources amount to approximately 1,200 per year.

    Mr. Ashdown Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether instructions have been issued to staff of his Department on the subject of obtaining disclosure of information from the National Health Service central register in the course of investigating actual or suspected fraud by social security claimants; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr. Major It is not in the public interest to disclose operational procedures for the investigation of social security fraud.

    Mr. Ashdown Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish the instructions under which information from the National Health Service central register may be disclosed for any purpose of law enforcement, including disclosure to staff of his Department investigating actual or suspected fraud by social security claimants.

    Mr. Major The Code of Guidance used by the National Health Service central register states – there may sometimes be exceptional circumstances which justify the disclosure of information to a law enforcement agency if it can help prevent or detect the commission of a serious crime or bring the criminal to justice… Serious crime may be deemed to include murder, manslaughter, rape, kidnapping, acts of terrorism, causing explosions likely to end life or cause damage to property, possession of firearms with intent to injure, hostage taking, hi-jacking, serious harm to the security of the State or to public order, serious interference with the administration of justice. The onus should be on the enquirer to satisfy NHSCR that the crime is sufficiently serious and that the task of preventing or detecting it would be seriously prejudiced if disclosure were not to be made.” (In all requests to trace patients the Administrator of the appropriate Family Practitioner Committee would be fully involved.) Arrangements have been agreed to help DHSS fraud officers where a medical card has been used as a means of identification when cashing a social security giro cheque which subsequently is found to be fraudulent. NHSCR assistance is provided in response only to a written request from a regional controller and is usually limited to providing the identity of the person recorded against the stated NHS number”.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Departmental Staff – 17 June 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Departmental Staff on 17th June 1986.

    Mr. Skinner Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many people were employed by his Department in the east midlands in 1979 and at the latest available date;(2) how many people were employed in clerical positions by his Department in the east midlands in 1979 and at the latest available date.

    Mr. Major I assume that the hon. Member is referring to those offices which were in the Department’s east midlands and east Anglia region and were transferred to the midland region on reorganisation in August 1982.

    Information is not available in the precise form requested. The complement allocated to east midlands offices for April 1979 and the intended 1 July 1986 staff allocation are set out in the table. They reflect overall reductions in work load over the period mainly due to the introduction of housing benefit and statutory sick pay.

    Total Staff | Number of Clerical Staff
    1979 | 3,747 | 2,559
    1986 | 3,814 | 2,319.5