Select Committee · Justice Committee

Fraud and the Justice System

Status: Closed Opened: 2 Dec 2021 Closed: 14 Sep 2023 20 recommendations 23 conclusions 1 report

This short inquiry sought to examine the ability of the Justice System to effectively prosecute fraud cases. The Committee was particularly interested in how the system is set up to tackle lower-level frauds, that are often not serious enough to be considered by the Serious Fraud Office but have a significant impact on the public. …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Fourth Report - Fraud and the Justice System HC 12 18 Oct 2022 43 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

6 items
5 Conclusion Fourth Report - Fraud and the Justice S… Acknowledged

Prioritise fraud victim support for most vulnerable; train responders to identify needs.

Fraud crimes do not impact victims equally and due to limitations in victim support capacity, efforts to support victims of fraud should be focused on those who need it most. It is therefore vital that responders to these crimes have the training and experience required to identify who may need …

Government response. The government committed to improving call centre capacity with new suppliers, launching a new reporting tool and website next year, and implementing automated SMS and a chatbot to ease reporting, but did not specify how support would be targeted to …
Ministry of Justice
6 Conclusion Fourth Report - Fraud and the Justice S… Acknowledged

Inconsistent fraud victim support across police forces lacks national standards.

Support available for victims of fraud is patchy and inconsistent. Thirty-seven police forces currently work with victim care units. However this is not compulsory and there is currently no national standard for fraud victim care.

Government response. The government agreed victims need support and allocated £30 million for Action Fraud upgrades, aiming to refresh the service by 2024 with a new reporting tool in 2023, but did not commit to a national standard for victim care or …
Ministry of Justice
15 Recommendation Fourth Report - Fraud and the Justice S… Acknowledged

Introduce legislative changes to allow flexible compensation order value adjustments for victims.

The Government should introduce changes to compensation order legislation to allow for flexibility in altering the order value if a criminal is later found to have assets of greater value which can be used to compensate victims of their crimes. This would bring practice into line with that already in …

Government response. The government did not commit to specific changes in compensation order legislation but outlined its agreement on a unified response to fraud and stated it will shortly publish a new strategy detailing efforts to stop fraud, empower victims, and prosecute …
Ministry of Justice
24 Recommendation Fourth Report - Fraud and the Justice S… Acknowledged

Police training needs review to reflect evolving technology-exploiting crime landscape.

The College of Policing should conduct a review of the training offered to front- line staff to ensure it reflects the changing crime landscape and provides a strong foundation in crimes that exploit technology such as fraud. (Paragraph 88) 40 Fraud and the Justice System Prosecuting fraud

Government response. The government is supportive of the College of Policing's (CoP) desire for high standards of learning and notes CoP is already working with City of London Police to review policing arrangements for fraud. It acknowledges more work is needed and …
Ministry of Justice
27 Recommendation Fourth Report - Fraud and the Justice S… Acknowledged

Application of disclosure rules is problematic in digital fraud cases, requiring clearer guidelines.

Our inquiry heard of problems with the application of disclosure rules which can result in significant amounts of police and prosecution time being spent redacting and disclosing vast amounts of material that turns out to be unnecessary to the case eventually pursued. We are not convinced that the underlying disclosure …

Government response. The government acknowledges the complexity of disclosure, particularly with digital material, noting past revisions to guidelines and ongoing work. It states the forthcoming fraud strategy will detail aims for the disclosure regime in complex fraud cases.
Ministry of Justice
37 Conclusion Fourth Report - Fraud and the Justice S… Acknowledged

Failure to prevent fraud' offence could improve corporate behaviour and prevention efforts.

The ‘failure to prevent’ offence for bribery has had success in driving better corporate behaviours. A similar offence for failure to prevent fraud being perpetrated using a company’s platforms would not only aid prosecution for these failures but focus private sector effort on designing fraud out of companies’ systems.

Government response. The government recognises the limitations of current corporate criminal liability laws and is considering the Law Commission’s paper from June 2022 to strengthen the law, including the creation of a 'failure to prevent fraud' offence. It also highlights the Online …
Ministry of Justice

Correspondence

5 letters
DateDirectionTitle
9 May 2023 To cttee Letter from Rt Hon Tom Tugendhat MBE VR MP, Security Minister, dated 3 May 2023…
7 Dec 2022 From cttee Letter to the Chairman of the Sentencing Council, dated 30 November 2022, on th…
23 Nov 2022 To cttee Letter from the Sentencing Council, dated 14 November 2022, on the Committe's r…
17 May 2022 To cttee Letter from Damian Hinds MP, Minister for Security and Borders, dated 10 May 20…
10 May 2022 From cttee Letter to Rt Hon Damian Hinds MP, Minister for Security and Borders, dated 28 A…