Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to (a) reduce incidences of fraud and (b) increase the rate at which reported fraud cases are closed.

The Government takes fraud very seriously. Victims of fraud suffer both serious financial and emotional harm. The money fraudsters steal can go on to fund other serious and organised crimes and even terrorism.

This is why the Home Office is working with other departments, law enforcement and the private sector to better protect the public and businesses from fraud, reduce the impact on victims, and ensure fraudsters have no space to operate. This includes the development of a new Fraud Action Plan, the relaunch of the Joint Fraud Taskforce and publication of charters with the retail banking, telecommunications and accountancy sectors.

We need to ensure that victims of fraud have the confidence to come forward and know that their case will be dealt with and closed with the best outcome possible. With this in mind, we recognise the need to boost local police capacity and strengthen our criminal justice system to ensure we put victims first. As part of the Police Uplift Programme to recruit an additional 20,000 officers by 2023, we have prioritised more investigators in the City of London Police to fulfil their role as a world class fraud specialist force. We have also channelled additional resource into the Regional Organised Crime Unit network to work on a host of serious and organised crime threats including fraud.