Select committee: Justice Committee
Conclusion 19
Fourth Report - Fraud and the Justice System
Published 18 Oct 2022
Paragraph 73
Addressed to Ministry of Justice
Justice Committee Fraud and the Justice System All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Fraud is not an investigative priority for police forces, partly because it is not a crime type for which forces are held accountable for their performance. Fraud statistics are not included in local and regional performance data despite most of these crimes still being investigated at the local and regional level. Without this data it is impossible to identify weaknesses in the response to these crimes and boost investigations of fraud crimes.
From: Justice Committee, Fourth Report - Fraud and the Justice System (HC 12), paragraph 73, 18 October 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 11 January 2023 (deadline 18 December 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government welcomes the report and sets out its response to its recommendations, agreeing on several points, including victim support, Action Fraud and tech charters, while saying other matters, such as sentencing guidelines, are for others to decide.
- On victim support, the Government "agrees that it is imperative that all victims of fraud receive enough support and advice". NECVCU coverage is to reach 40 of 43 forces at Level 1 and 34 of 43 at Level 2 "from April 2023", with work continuing with the remaining forces.
- On Action Fraud, it is replacing the service "in 2024" and providing £30 million to City of London Police over three years. A new reporting tool and website will be launched "in 2023". On staffing, it says this "may require more staff, or it may require better use of technology".
- On a failure to prevent fraud offence, the Government is working across Government to consider the Law Commission's paper and "determine a case" for strengthening corporate criminal liability, "including the creation of an offence for failure to prevent fraud".
- It does not commit to dedicated economic crime courts, saying they "would not in itself increase overall capacity". On sentencing guidelines, it says it is "for the Council to consider the response". It agrees that further charters with tech companies matter, and intends to launch a tech and online charter "next year".