Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with (a) Ofcom and (b) mobile network operators on establishing a national protocol to immediately suspend or block mobile telephone numbers that have been identified as having been fraudulently transferred between providers; and whether she plans to take steps to require all mobile network operators to participate in a coordinated system to prevent the continued use of stolen numbers for identity theft, fraud and unauthorised financial transactions while ownership is being verified.

As Minister for Economic Crime, Lord Hanson regularly meets with Ofcom and mobile network operators to discuss the identification, prevention and disruption of telecoms-enabled fraud. The Government is working closely with the telecoms industry, law enforcement and Ofcom to deliver the actions in the Telecoms Fraud Charter to strengthen the identification and disruption of telecoms fraud, including closer data sharing across the telecommunications, banking and technology sectors.

In July 2026, the Government also launched two Calls for Evidence, one on criminals accessing numbers to commit scam calls at scale, and another on well unauthorised fraud. The Government is now reviewing responses to both Calls for Evidence.