Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to protect (a) people with dementia and Alzheimer's and (b) other vulnerable people from (i) financial abuse, (ii) fraud and (iii) scammers.

The impact of fraud extends beyond financial losses. It is important that victims of fraud receive the critical support that they are rightly entitled to.

Improving support for victims is a key part of the Fraud Strategy and the replacement of Action Fraud over the course of 2025 will improve the service victims receive.

All 43 police forces in England and Wales have now also rolled out the National Economic Crime Victim Care Unit service to ensure victims receive tailored support. Furthermore, we are supporting National Trading Standards in the rollout of their Multi Agency Approach to Fraud, bringing together local services to improve support to the most vulnerable victims.

Through the Fraud Strategy we also continue to tackle the ways in which vulnerable people might be targeted by fraudsters. We are working with Ofcom to stop malicious number spoofing and prevent mass texting services from abuse by fraudsters.

Under our Telecommunications Charter, the industry has introduced firewalls that detect and stop scam texts from reaching customers. Finally, we legislated to require the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to introduce mandatory reimbursement for APP scams, ensuring more victims get their money back.