Benefit fraud prosecution costs

Summary

The request sought statistics on benefit fraud prosecutions, staff involvement, and costs over five years from the Attorney General's Chambers. The authority disclosed the number of prosecuted cases but refused to provide staff and cost data as it was not held.

Key Facts

• The request covered the five-year period from 2017 to 2021.
• The Attorney General's Chambers does not hold information on the number of staff involved or the costs of prosecutions.
• A practical refusal reason under section 11(3)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 was applied to the withheld information.
• The disclosed case numbers refer to when files were first received, not necessarily the year of conviction.
• The response was issued on 14 February 2022.

Data Disclosed

• 2017: 27 cases
• 2018: 20 cases
• 2019: 12 cases
• 2020: 7 cases
• 2021: 12 cases
• 2022-01-28
• 2022-02-14
• 2221316

Exemptions Cited

• Section 11(3)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (Information not held)

Original Request

For each of the last five years to date: How many benefit fraud cases were prosecuted by the Attorney General's chambers? How many staff were involved those prosecutions? At what cost?

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Attorney General's Chambers 2nd floor Belgravia House Circular Road, Douglas Isle of Man, IM1 1AE Telephone: (01624) 685452 E-mail: attgen@gov.im

Our ref: 2221316 14 February 2022

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 28 January 2022 and which states:

"For each of the last five years to date: How many benefit fraud cases were prosecuted by the Attorney General's chambers? How many staff were involved those prosecutions? At what cost?"

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance a practical refusal reason has been applied, under section 11(3)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015, to some of the information you have requested [‘How many staff were involved in those prosecutions’; and ‘At what cost’], as the Attorney General’s Chambers does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find this information. The information which is held is detailed below: Number of Benefit Fraud cases prosecuted in the last 5 years :- 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 27 20 12 7 12 Note: • The dates refer to when the file was first received in the Attorney General’s Chambers • These are the number of cases that were prosecuted, meaning they went through the Court system

Please quote the reference number 2221316 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi.

I will now close your request as of this date.