Select committee: Justice Committee
Recommendation 34
Fourth Report - Fraud and the Justice System
Published 18 Oct 2022
Paragraph 137
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 ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We acknowledge that telecommunications and tech companies are taking steps to improve their response to fraud, however they remain platforms through which the majority of frauds impacting the general public are conducted. There still appears to be a lack of engagement on this subject from those sectors, not least amongst the telecommunications companies. Fraudsters may be using increasingly sophisticated technologies and methodologies to conduct their crimes but we are not convinced that the largest companies in those sectors do not have the capabilities to increase their efforts to tackle these changes and prevent frauds, particularly in paid-for- advertising, from appearing on their systems. Fraud may not have a significant impact on the bottom-line of those companies, however they have a duty of care to their users to ensure everything possible is being done to design frauds out of their systems in order to protect the public.
From: Justice Committee, Fourth Report - Fraud and the Justice System (HC 12), paragraph 137, 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".