Oral Answers to Questions

Jack Abbott Excerpts

Thursday 14th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Solicitor General]

In a previous life I was an environmental lawyer, so I know just what a scourge those waste offences can be. That is precisely why the work of specialist Crown prosecutors, who work closely with the police in charging and prosecuting such rural crime, will be so important.

[Jack Abbott (Ipswich) (Lab/Co-op)]

3. What discussions she has had with the Crown Prosecution Service on ensuring the effective prosecution of covid-19 related fraud.

[The Solicitor General]

The Government are doing everything possible to recover the millions in public funds lost to covid-19-related fraud. The Crown Prosecution Service is working closely with investigators to pursue all those who dishonestly lined their pockets with Government money.

[Jack Abbott]

In 2021, the previous Health Secretary said in relation to covid-19 contracts that

“where a contract is not delivered against, we do not intend to pay taxpayers’ money”.—[Official Report, 23 February 2021; Vol. 689, c. 758.]

Judging from the figures that highlight the enormous scale of covid-19-related fraud, that was little more than a promise made and a promise broken by the previous Government. I am pleased that our Government have made it a priority to recoup as much of that money as possible from scammers who profited at taxpayers’ expense. However, four and a half years on from the first lockdown, my constituents in Ipswich, many of whom sacrificed so much during the pandemic, will be wondering why it has taken this long, and a change of Government, to take the issue as seriously as it deserves. Can the Solicitor General tell the House whether that is down to the previous Government’s incompetence or lack of effort, or whether it is symptomatic of their more general recklessness?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. One of us has to sit down, and it is not going to be me. That was a very long question; the hon. Gentleman could have shortened it. He might want to apply for an Adjournment debate on the subject, which is obviously very important.