Business of the House

Julie Hilling Excerpts

Thursday 20th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

I am sure that my hon. Friend is able to pursue his concerns directly with the Secretary of State for Education. She will be at the Dispatch Box to answer questions on Monday 1 December, at the beginning of the week after next, and he may wish to seek to raise his concerns then, as well as in correspondence with her.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

An increasing number of constituents are contacting me with concerns about how they have been treated after becoming victims of internet crime. With internet fraud taking over as the crime of choice, fraud not appearing as a crime statistic, and a lack of information about prosecutions and the effectiveness of Action Fraud, may we have a debate on internet fraud and the performance of investigators and prosecutors?

[Mr Hague]

The hon. Lady raises an important issue. The development of the internet is bringing immense social and economic benefits, but it is also bringing dangers and more crime is moving on to the web. As a result, people need to know how to deal with such crime. That would be quite a good subject for a debate, but I encourage her to put it to the Backbench Business Committee or for an Adjournment debate. I cannot offer her Government time, since a lot of our time has been given to the Backbench Business Committee for such subjects, but I encourage her to put it forward.