Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the work of the Serious Fraud Office in investigating and securing convictions for fraud offences.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has played an important role in the fight against serious and complex fraud, bribery and corruption. Between 2012/13 and 2016/17, 66 defendants were convicted from 94 who were prosecuted giving an overall defendant conviction rate of 70.2%. In terms of cases, 31 were successful out of 36. This gives a case conviction rate of 86.1%. In addition the SFO has concluded four deferred prosecution agreements.

The SFO also works closely with other justice partners on tackling serious fraud, as well as participating in a number of strategic delivery and working groups.

The SFO continues to work to improve performance and, following a report by Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) in May 2016, progress has been made to bolster governance and ensure greater efficiency.