[HarryT]

Originally Posted by gwynevans

We obviously have a different defintion of "strict", Harry. Would you like to comment on the cases where covert (physical) surveillance is used to police school catchment areas, for instance? e.g. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7343445.stm

Certainly, yes. An excellent example of a local council doing the "right thing" for its local residents by ensuring that only those children legally entitled to attend a very popular school do so. You will note, I trust, that out of the (I think) 6 families for which this was done, four of them were found to have submitted a fraudulent application. That means that, as a result of this, four children can now attend the school of their choice who would otherwise not have been able to do so.

You surely don't object to councils using any legal means available to ensure that local people get the services they are entitled to, and that fraudsters are punished, I take it? This surveillance was not conducted at random, but in cases where there was reason to suspect that a fraudulent application had been made, just as it's done in cases where there's reason to suspect that a person is fraudulently claiming disability benefits when they are perfectly fit and well, as in this case, for example.