Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the police notify individuals when the police are made aware that another individual is using their identity without their knowledge.

The Government is aware of the harms caused by identity crime and that criminals use false identities to commit and enable a range of offences, from people trafficking, benefit fraud, credit card fraud to fraudulently obtaining government-issued documents.

Contact with victims is usual procedure where police are working on an open investigation. However, the majority of cases of identity theft are brought to the attention of the police by the victim themselves.

In the case of the identity theft being a result of a personal data breach all organisations have a duty under GDPR to report certain personal data breaches to the relevant supervisory authority. Where the breach is likely to result in a high risk of adversely affecting individuals’ rights and freedoms, they must also inform those individuals without undue delay.