Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with what she intends to replace Action Fraud.

We are replacing the Action Fraud service to create a more efficient new system that will provide better intelligence to forces. Improvements include:

• Increasing the number of staff in the call centre,
• Expanding the reach of victim care services, including for the most vulnerable,
• Sending cases to forces faster and better progress updates on cases.

These improvements, which have been tested across the victim support landscape, law enforcement agencies, and other relevant bodies, will improve the support services and reporting tools for victims, provide greater intelligence and insight to policing for investigations, and allow for greater proactive work to prevent and disrupt fraudsters at scale. The new service expected to be fully operational by early 2024.

In the meantime, we continue to work closely with the City of London Police, who manage the service, and a number of improvements to the existing system have been put in place over the last year to ensure a smooth transition to the new service.