Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department provides to police in England and Wales on investigation of a complaint that spyware is being used against an individual.

The College of Policing is responsible for issuing guidance to the police on training and investigations. At the request of the National Policing Lead for Cyber Crime (DCC Peter Goodman) the College of Policing is in the process of
developing Authorised Professional Practice (APP) on cyber crime, which will be focused on cyber-dependent and cyber-enabled crime (as defined in the Serious and Organised Crime Strategy).

The Government is investing £860 million over five years through the National Cyber Security Programme to respond to the threat posed by cyber and online crime. Of this, approximately 10% is being invested in building law enforcement
capabilities to tackle cyber crime. This has been used to build capability at the national, regional, and local level, including delivering training in cyber crime to officers in local police forces.