Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of support provided to local police forces to assist in the investigation of scams conducted (a) through telephone calls and (b) online.

We recognise that there needs to be improvements in the response to fraud – from the reporting process through to investigations. That is why we have been working with partners from law enforcement, the public and private sectors to explore all options available to give our policing colleagues what they need to keep pace with criminals and encourage innovation within industry.

The government is committed to taking fraudsters off the streets and increasing arrests and prosecutions. We are increasing law enforcement investigative capacity in the National Crime Agency and in Regional Organised Crime Units across England and Wales.

As part of the Police Uplift Programme to recruit an additional 20,000 officers by 2023, we have channelled additional officer resource into the Regional Organised Crime Unit network to work on a host of serious and organised crime threats including fraud as well as posts to the City of London Police to fulfil their role as a world-class fraud specialist force.

We will also establish a new fraud investigative function in the NCA to target the most complex and serious fraudsters, meeting a manifesto commitment to create a new national cybercrime force focused on fraud. We are also increasing intelligence capabilities in the NCA and the national security community to identify the most harmful criminals and organised criminal gangs.