Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to support regional crime units to tackle (a) fraud and (b) cybercrime.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

A new National Fraud Squad (NFS) has been established, consisting of a network of 400 new investigators across the National Crime Agency, City of London Police and Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs). The NFS is transforming the law enforcement response by taking a proactive, intelligence-led approach to identifying and disrupting the most serious fraudsters, domestically and overseas, jointly with government and industry.

The Home Office has provided funding to create a coordinated police Fraud Protect Network, made up of local, regional and national law enforcement officers and is designed to reduce the threat of fraud and revictimisation by providing consistent safeguarding advice to the public.

The Home Office also funds the Regional Cyber Crime Units (RCCUs) across England and Wales. These regional policing teams investigate and pursue serious cyber offenders, including supporting organisations during live ransomware attacks to get them back online as soon as possible. They also support businesses by providing cyber security support to help them reduce their vulnerability and threat of attack.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent people under 18 years old from committing anti-social behaviour.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.

The Government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, to intervene early and ensure this cohort is identified and offered support in a more systematic way, as well as creating more opportunities for young people in their communities.

Prevention Partnerships will identify children and young people who are vulnerable to being drawn into crime and violence such as knife crime and ASB and divert them by offering them suitable support in a more systematic way.

The Government’s Plan for Change, announced by the Prime Minister on 5 December, sets out our plan to reduce ASB. This will include a dedicated lead officer in every police force across England and Wales working with communities to develop a local ASB action plan. We are also delivering on our commitment to bring back and strengthen neighbourhood policing, ensuring thousands of additional officers are visibly out patrolling in our town centres and communities to make our streets safer.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department holds data on the number of ransomware attacks against schools and colleges in the last three years.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Educational settings in England are responsible for maintaining their IT systems and cyber security. There is currently no mandatory reporting requirement legislation for schools to report a cyber attack and no central register of cyber attacks exists. However, the department has been notified of 53 ransomware cases across the sector over the last 3 years.

The department has a small, dedicated sector cyber security team to support the education sector. The team provides appropriate guidance and advice, via regular targeted and broad communications, to help schools adhere to and maintain good cyber security standards. The department provides guidance for schools and colleges on how to help protect against a cyber incident, which can found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/meeting-digital-and-technology-standards-in-schools-and-colleges/cyber-security-standards-for-schools-and-colleges.

The department also works closely with the National Cyber Crime Security Centre (NCSC) and Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) to ensure that up-to-date cyber security guidance is shared with schools, colleges and universities.

Further guidance on cyber security for schools can be found at: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/education-skills/cyber-security-schools.

The department’s Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA) has more than 9,900 member schools, which is 52% of eligible schools in England, and is including cover for cyber incidents as standard from the 2022/23 membership years. In the event of a cyber incident, RPA members have access to a 24/7 Incident Response Service.

The department’s dedicated sector cyber security function provides advice in response to cyber security enquiries and incident reports from the sector, liaising with the affected institution following an incident to advise on steps to mitigate the threat and provide guidance on recovery.

The department adheres to the NCSC guidance on payment of ransoms and does not encourage, endorse nor condone the payment of ransom demands in response to a ransomware attack. This guidance is outlined at: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/mitigating-malware-and-ransomware-attacks.

St George’s Day 2025

Found: Cotswolds) (Chair) Mr Clive Betts (Labour; Sheffield South East) Nesil Caliskan (Labour; Barking) Mr Luke Charters

Found: Cotswolds) (Chair) Mr Clive Betts (Labour; Sheffield South East) Nesil Caliskan (Labour; Barking) Mr Luke Charters

Found: My colleague Luke Charters MP and I are leading a campaign looking at how the financing works in the

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Chair); Mr Clive Betts; Mr Luke Charters