Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle cyber crime.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
As technology develops, so too do opportunities for cyber criminals to target the UK. The arrival of 5G and the Internet of Things will create multiple new vulnerabilities, including inside people’s homes. ‘Deep Fake’ technology provides opportunities for fraud and identity theft or for exploitation and extortion. We need to confront these crimes and develop and improve technological safeguards so that citizens never become victims.
As we made clear in the Beating Crime Plan published earlier this year, we are working across government to deliver improvements to the UK’s cyber resilience and ensure we stay ahead of cyber criminals. We have invested £195 million over the last five years to establish a specialist cyber law enforcement network to disrupt and prosecute cyber criminals and support victims in response and recovery. We are developing a campaign to confront the growing threat of ransomware and to disrupt cyber criminals based overseas.
We will publish a new National Cyber Security Strategy later this year. The Strategy will drive significant improvements in the UK’s response to cybercrime. It will strengthen the Law Enforcement response and drive greater collaboration with the National Cyber Centre and the National Cyber Force.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department plans to take to prosecute foreign drivers convicted of speeding on UK roads; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Enforcement of road traffic legislation is an operational matter for the police.
The police are able to issue all motorists on the roads with fixed penalty notices for speeding. Motorists who cannot provide a verified UK address can be required to make an on-the-spot roadside payment, also known as a fixed penalty deposit.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many non-EU citizens were refused entry to the UK on grounds of public security in each calendar year between 2010 and 2015.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Numbers of non-EEA refusals according to refusal reasons are not held centrally. Overall non-EEA refusal figures between 2004 and December 2015 can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015/list-of-tables#admissions
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the responses to her letter of 24 November 2015 to all local council leaders on the Dispersal of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by James Brokenshire
There have been a number of positive responses to the letter of 24 November, including concrete offers of support for Kent through the disperal of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children. We are clear that local authorities with the capacity to support Kent should do so. The Immigration Minister and the Children’s Minister chaired a round table meeting on 15 December with council leaders and directors of children’s services to consider what more can be done , and longer-term options for the dispersal of unaccompanied asylum seeking children. We hope the arrangements will remain voluntary and more local authorities will come forward. However, we have taken a reserve power in the Immigration Bill to underpin the voluntary power and act as a backstop power to mandate dispersal if the voluntary arrangements do not work.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of calls received by Action Fraud have resulted in a police investigation to date; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Mike Penning
I refer my Rt. Hon Friend to the answer I gave him on 27th October 2015 to question 12259.
It is the responsibility of the local Chief Constable, in conjunction with their Police and Crime Commissioner, to determine the resources they devote to tackling fraud and cyber crimes locally. The Government does not hold data on the proportion of calls received by Action Fraud which result in a police investigation.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of calls received by Action Fraud result in a police investigation; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Mike Penning
It is the responsibility of the local Chief Constable, in conjunction with their Police and Crime Commissioner, to determine the resources they devote to tackling fraud and cyber crimes locally. The Government does not hold data on the proportion of calls received by Action Fraud which result in a police investigation.
Action Fraud is the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, and takes reports on behalf of all police forces in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Action Fraud was set up to improve reporting of what has traditionally between an underreported crime type. Official figures support the decision to centralise reporting: in the year ending June 2015, recorded fraud offences more than trebled from 72,000 before the centralisation of reporting to over 230,000.
Action Fraud works in conjunction with the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB): both are operated by the City of London Police, the national lead force for fraud. The NFIB analyses Action Fraud crime reports, spotting links between victims in different force areas, and preparing intelligence packages for police forces to consider for enforcement action. As fraudsters and cyber criminals can target multiple victims across different police force areas at the same time, connecting these crimes gives the best chance of suspects being identified.
Not all crimes recorded by Action Fraud and analysed by the NFIB will have viable investigative leads: fraudsters and cyber criminals may be based overseas or use false details to mask their identities. Nevertheless, in 2014/15 the number of crimes sent to police forces was almost 62,000. This was an increase of over 50% on 2013/14. Reports made to Action Fraud also support disruption of the enablers of fraud and cyber crime, including websites and telephone numbers. The NFIB has a programme of work with industry to take this forward. NFIB also issues intelligence assessments of the fraud threat which helps the police determine their response. Neither Action Fraud nor the NFIB carry out investigations: it remains the responsibility of local police forces to decide whether and how to proceed with an investigation of the crimes they are sent by the NFIB.