Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what steps the Government is taking to improve prosecution rates for (a) fraud and (b) economic crime.

In the year ending September 2021, the CPS prosecuted 7,609 defendants where Fraud and Forgery were the principal offence. 84.9% of those defendants were convicted. In the last five years, the SFO secured reparations for criminal behaviour for organisations it investigated totalling over £1.3bn.

The CPS deploy a network of prosecutors around the world to help extradite suspects and secure the evidence needed to bring criminals to justice in this jurisdiction.

The Government has introduced the Online Safety Bill, requiring all companies to take robust action against illegal content. Companies will need to remove material that amounts to an offence in the UK regardless of where in the world it originated.