Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff will be employed to work at the national economic crime centre.

The new National Economic Crime Centre has £6m in funding allocated to it in the 18/19 financial year.

The Home Office is working with partners across government, law enforcement, regulators and the private sector on the design of the National Economic Crime Centre. It is too early in the design and build process to confirm final staffing numbers.

Home Office and law enforcement agencies are working together to determine the size of the team that will lead the work to use the power in the Criminal Finances Act 2017 to forfeit criminal money held in suspended bank accounts. We have not yet determined the exact size of that team.

Decisions on the overall funding of the SFO, NCA and other law enforcement agencies is agreed through the Spending Review process.

The inaugural meeting of the Economic Crime Strategic Board will take place in the first quarter of 2018.