Sir, In your edition of February 19 you gave a lot of space to publicising the amount of benefit fraud in Scotland but I find it curious that no mention is made of a far greater scandal.
To give a truer perspective:
In 2010/11 benefit fraud was estimated at £3.4bn 2.2% of total benefit expenditure (£154bn).
It is also estimated that 0.9%, or £1.3bn, of total benefit expenditure was underpaid due to error.
In 2010 an estimated £16 billion in benefits and tax credits were unclaimed.
This shows that the under-claiming of people entitled to benefits is a bigger problem than that of benefit fraud. When we compare this to the amount of money lost through tax evasionwe get a different perspective.
At £30 billion per year, fraud in the UK is more than twice as high as thought, with tax evasion costing the public purse over £15 billion per year and benefit fraud just over £1 billion.
Given these facts I question why your extensive coverage gave no mention of the above facts?
As a result it only served to reinforce the Tory’s present campaign to attack the poor and smear them as an undeserving underclass.
George White. 2 Cupar Road, Auchtermuchty.
Saddened by benefits story
Sir, I was saddened to see your recent headline story on benefit fraud. Life on benefits is hard enough without people being encouraged to regard claimants as potential cheats.
While your editorial acknowledges that the vast majority of claimants are honest, some statistics can help put this properly into perspective.
A recent poll by the TUC showed that on average the public wrongly believes that 27% of benefits are claimed fraudulently a massive figure that reflects the sensationalist reporting given to this issue.
The actual amount, according to the government’s own statistics, is just 0.7%, which is, in fact, slightly lower than it has been in the last two years.
Sarah Glynn. Secretary, Scottish Unemployed Workers’ Network.
Needs to be maintained
Sir, It is now many weeks since the cycle track between Carnoustie and Easthaven was damaged by mud and floodwater. This track was built at considerable expense and is a huge asset to cyclists, walkers and runners.
It is something that “Carnoustie Country” can boast about, besides golf. But it cannot be left in this state indefinitely.
Those who are forced to take to the adjacent road take their lives in their hands this is a road where, in places, there is no refuge from fast- moving traffic. There have been a number of off-road “excursions” by errant vehicles here in the past. While it is good to see resources being spent on expanding the path network at Elliot Links, can this existing path please be maintained first?
Hugh Wylie. 1 Guthrie Street, Carnoustie.
EU legislation is needed
Sir, Supermarkets may say they have heard it from the horse’s mouth that their beef does not come from them, but they have lost our trust, have they not?
It’s time for the big-wigs in Brussels to renounce their bent for fairytale legislation, to forget about straight bananas and demand straight talking from the food industry instead!
Leslie Milligan. 18b Myrtlehall Gardens, Dundee.
Call centre grievance
Sir, I am becoming really disgruntled when making enquiries with organisations based in the UK to be forced to speak to an assistant in India, South Africa, the Philippines and now Romania, where the standard of English is very poor and most of them fail to understand Scottish dialect.
It’s a disgrace that companies outsource their work internationally when there is an unemployment figure in this country of 2.6 million people and rising.
UK companies should be investing in the workforce here and stop putting profit before social responsibility.
As a customer I will seriously consider voting with my feet and doing business with companies that don’t use international call centres.
Gordon Kennedy. 117 Simpson Square, Perth.
Dream day
Sir, Let’s celebrate Alex Salmond’s next birthday when it comes by trialling his dream of 100% reliance on renewables. Just for one day, turn of all electricity generation bar his chosen renewables and make it a day for us all to remember!
Mike Scott-Hayward. Sawmill House, Kemback Bridge, Fife.