Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services report entitled Fraud: Time to Choose: An inspection of the police response to fraud, published in April 2019, what steps he has taken in response to the recommendations in that report on improving the police response to fraud.

The former Home Secretary commissioned this report because we wanted a much clearer view of how fraud was being investigated and what improvements were needed.

We welcome the report and we are now working to ensure the report’s recommendations are implemented effectively, including supporting the City of London Police to develop a national fraud policing strategy which sets out the roles and responsibilities of each organisation involved in tackling fraud and how the police response to fraud at the national, regional and local level will be improved.

We are also working closely with Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to understand how they plan to respond to the report’s recommendations that fall to them to implement.