Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department's Joint Fraud Taskforce has made since it was established; and whether that taskforce plans to publish a report outling its work in its first year.

The Joint Fraud Taskforce is a partnership between government, law enforcement and the financial sector, working in new innovative ways to deliver a more effective response to fraud.

To-date, closer working between the banks and the police through the Taskforce has led to: the closure or heightened monitoring of thousands of bank accounts linked to fraud; a nationwide campaign to locate ten prolific fraudsters that has led to four arrests; and bank branches across London introducing new processes to identify potential victims of fraud and provide them with swift support from Trading Standards and the police.

The Home Secretary chaired an Oversight Board of the Taskforce in September, where a forward programme was agreed that will focus on: improving the national, regional and local law enforcement response to fraud; introducing a system to make it much easier for the victims of fraud to have their money repatriated; an industry led strategic action plan to address card not present fraud; launching a very visible national fraud prevention campaign to provide targeted advice to protect members of the public; and a new collective approach to better support victims of fraud. We have no current plans to publish a report on the first year of the Joint Fraud Taskforce.