Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure that websites such as Checkatrade are vetting tradespeople appropriately to reduce the risk of fraud to platform users.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Checkatrade is a private company providing a UK-based online platform that connects homeowners with vetted and approved local tradespeople. Government is not directly involved in the vetting process or checks undertaken by Checkatrade.
TrustMark is a UK government-endorsed quality scheme that covers work carried out in or around the home. It was established to ensure that consumers can find reliable and trustworthy tradespeople for various home improvement and repair tasks. TrustMark operates under a Master Licence Agreement held by the Department for Business and Trade. Consumers seeking tradespeople to undertake work in their home should consider checking for TrustMark certification.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of incorrectly applied CIFAS fraud markers on (a) small business owners and (b) sole traders.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
Services like CIFAS (Credit Information Fraud Avoidance Service) play a crucial role in safeguarding against financial fraud, supporting the government’s broader efforts to protect individuals and businesses from these crimes.
CIFAS is a not-for-profit organisation that facilitates fraud prevention by providing a platform for financial institutions to share information about potential fraud risks. When a financial institution suspects fraudulent activity, they can register a "marker" against a customer's credit report on the National Fraud Database, which is managed by CIFAS. As stated on their website, the markers themselves are not created by CIFAS, but rather by the financial institutions who suspect fraud. CIFAS only provides the infrastructure for these markers to be registered and accessed by other members.
Individuals affected by CIFAS markers have the right to challenge and seek removal of incorrect or unjustified markers. Individuals can do that by submitting a Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) to obtain details of the marker and can then contact the organisation that applied the marker to request evidence and removal if necessary. If the organisation denies the request, CIFAS provides an independent review within 14 days, with further options available through the Financial Ombudsman service.
The Home Office has not assessed the number of individuals incorrectly flagged by CIFAS as it does not hold this information.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve collaboration between businesses and law enforcement agencies.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office works closely with businesses across a wide range of shared interests and priorities, from prevention of fraud and cybercrime to tackling the sale of dangerous knives. A particular focus of this cooperation over the past year has been shop theft.
Town centres play a key role in the success of local economies. However, some town centres have become a shadow of their former selves with anti-social behaviour (ASB) and crime being both a cause and effect of their decline. As set out in our Plan for Change, this Government is focusing on town centres, including how the police and businesses can work together to make them safer for our communities.
Our Retail Crime Forum ensures we bring together and regularly engage with retailers and policing, promoting collaboration between the retail sector, security providers and law enforcement.
Pegasus is a unique private-public partnership and an excellent example of business and policing working together. Through Pegasus, retailers have agreed to fund a specialist analysis team within Opal, the national police intelligence unit for serious organised acquisitive crime. We will provide £5 million over the next three years to continue to fund the team.
The National Business Crime Centre recently hosted a Safer Action Business Days (SaBA) national week of action. SaBA Days is a joint approach by police, business, private security, Business Crime Reduction Partnerships and Business Improvement Districts working in partnership to focus resources into designated location to create a significant impact to reduce crime.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what mechanisms her Department plans to put in place to help detect (a) fraudulent and (b) incorrect claims for retail, hospitality and leisure business rate relief relief in the context of the (i) cash cap and (ii) minimal financial assistance limit; and whether any public body is responsible for cross-local authority checks.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The administration of business rates, including billing, enforcement and decisions on the award of relief, is the responsibility of local billing authorities. They do so having regard to the guidance published by the government
As the guidance sets out, the government and billing authorities will not tolerate any business falsifying their records or providing false evidence to gain a discount on their business rates bill, including claiming support above the cash cap. Local authorities have powers to combat fraud, and any ratepayer who falsely applies for any relief, or who provides false information or makes false representation to gain relief, may be guilty of fraud under the Fraud Act 2006. The government is committed to making further progress to tackle business rates avoidance, in line with the ambitions of Transforming Business Rates.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to protect consumers from fraudulent business practices.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is implementing the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act which strengthens consumer law enforcement by giving the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) new administrative powers, and the CMA and courts the ability to impose significant monetary penalties of up to 10% of turnover.
The DMCC Act also bans the buying, selling, and publishing of fake reviews, and restates existing prohibitions on misleading consumers in the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (2008).
DBT also funds Citizens Advice to provide the consumer service which supports consumers to resolve disputes and assert their rights.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there are any requirements for civil servants to book a desk in advance in order to attend the office in person in each of (a) their Department's office workplaces and (b) the arm’s length bodies of their Department.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Desk booking is used at the Department’s offices but is not required for office attendance. There are workspaces which do not require booking.
Desk booking is required at certain Arm’s Length Bodies’ workplaces. Employees are asked to book desks prior to attending the office at the UK Health Security Agency, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the Human Tissue Authority, the Care Quality Commission, the NHS Counter Fraud Authority, and the Health Research Authority.
Desk booking is not required at the offices of NHS England, NHS Resolution, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and NHS Blood and Transplant. Desk booking at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the NHS Business Services Authority is required at some of their offices.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will take steps to help ensure that companies cannot commit fraud by changing their company name.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 introduced new powers that build on the existing controls of company names. These powers will be used in accordance with the Registrar’s new statutory objectives.
The Registrars of Companies can now reject a proposed company name where they have reason to believe that a name is intended to facilitate fraud. Companies can be directed to change their name in more circumstances and the Registrar can determine a new name for the company.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what regulatory mechanisms are in place to help consumers verify the legitimacy of communications from (a) banks, (b) energy providers and (c) telecommunications companies to help prevent scams.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Although the Department of Business and Trade does not directly regulate these sectors, Companies House and the Insolvency Service supply data on UK registered companies to assist law enforcement targeting online fraud and other economic crimes. Furthermore, through the Consumer Protection Partnership, we raise awareness about how to spot, avoid and report scams.
Across Government, the Home Office works with Ofcom to prevent phone number ‘spoofing’, which is the practice of scammers impersonating UK phone numbers to trick people into thinking they are speaking to legitimate businesses.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of holding a public consultation before implementing the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP continues to seek feedback on the Bill through regular engagement with key stakeholders, including at official and ministerial level. This will ensure the measures are designed to be effective and take into consideration wider feedback from the financial sector, welfare organisations, business representative organisations and others.
There will be Codes of Practice for the Eligibility Verification Measure, Information Gathering and Debt Recovery powers, which DWP will publicly consult on before publication.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle fraud within the private publishing sector.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
We recognise that all businesses, including publishing houses, are a target for fraudsters. Government supports businesses through a number of measures including the Confirmation of Payee checks, which allow customers, including businesses, to confirm the name of a recipient before transferring money to them.
We have also helped business to protect themselves against cyber threats, including cyber enabled fraud, through the National Cyber Security Centre and the ten regional resilience centres across England and Wales and the Police Cyber Alarm. The Stop! Think Fraud campaign also included advice for businesses on how to protect themselves from fraud.
Further, an Economic Crime Survey is being conducted to find out more about the prevalence and impacts of economic crime (including fraud) against business. We expect the results to be published in mid-2025.