Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to confiscate money from criminals; and what plans she has to further strengthen the asset recovery regime.

The Government is committed to attacking criminal finances, by making it harder for criminals to move, use and hide their proceeds of crime. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, as amended by the Serious Crime Act 2015, provides a robust set of provisions for confiscating assets from criminals, and further reforms will be brought forward in the forthcoming Criminal Finances Bill. These reforms will significantly improve our ability to recover the proceeds of crime, tackle money laundering and corruption, and counter terrorist financing.