Source · Select Committees · Treasury Committee
Recommendation 49
49
Paragraph: 211
We are disappointed that the Government has not yet implemented reform of corporate criminal liability.
Recommendation
We are disappointed that the Government has not yet implemented reform of corporate criminal liability. The previous Committee presented convincing evidence of the need for this in 2019, already two years after the Ministry of Justice had run its consultation in 2017. The decision taken in 2020 to ask the Law Commission to review the law on corporate criminal liability is a sensible step, given the complexity of the law in this area, but it is likely to be years before any change in the law results. We urge the Law Commission to proceed with its review speedily, and we urge the Government to act quickly in bringing forward any legislation flowing from the Law Commission’s review. In the meantime, corporate criminals will continue to be able to escape prosecution for economic crimes.
Paragraph Reference:
211
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The government has developed a sustainable funding model that demonstrates its commitment to tackling economic crime. As aforementioned, the combination of last year’s Spending Review settlement and private sector contributions through the Economic Crime (Anti Money Laundering) levy will provide economic crime funding totalling around £400 million over the Spending Review period. Law enforcement activity on economic crime is conducted by a number of organisations, some of which, like the Serious Fraud Office, are narrowly focussed on this issue whereas others, such as territorial policing, work on the full range of crime types. This structure means that it is challenging to track the exact total of how much is being spent by the public sector to tackle economic crime specifically. Public-private partnerships, such as the NECC, are also helping to provide resources for coordinating a national response to economic crime. In addition to core funding, under the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme law enforcement agencies also receive a proportion of the assets recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act (2002) which can be used to fund future asset recovery work, as well as wider crime reduction projects.8 While exact allocations for the Spending Review period are not yet determined, around £100 million has been allocated to tackling fraud by the Home Office up until 2025. The focus of this spending will be on the law enforcement response and replacing the current Action Fraud system with a new Fraud and Cyber Reporting Analysis Service. For economic crime, investment will be focused on continuing to deliver the Suspicious Activity Reporting and Illicit Finance programmes, investing in teams and technology to recover criminal assets, as well as investing in new fraud and anti-money laundering capabilities. Specific allocations are subject to internal departmental allocations processes for each financial year. This funding will also support the second iteration of the Economic Crime Plan, which will set out the outcomes the private and public sector are working towards and how we intend to measure the impact of investment. 8 Asset Recovery Action Plan (accessible version) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Economic Crime: responses to the Committee’s Eleventh Report 7 The number of agencies responsible for fighting economic crime and fraud is bewildering. Each of the enforcement agencies has other crime-fighting or regulatory objectives, and although the joint working co-ordinated by for example the National Economic Crime Centre is welcome, there is a bigger question about whether there should be a single law enforcement agency with clear responsibilities and objectives to fight economic crime. We recommend that the Government seriously considers this issue as part of a review of the Economic Crime Plan.