What steps she is taking to help ensure effective prosecution of perpetrators of fraud and economic crime. As the Solicitor General will know, each September the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime meets at Jesus College Cambridge, and the issue of establishing a dedicated anti-fraud or economic crime agency is frequently raised. What consideration has been given to that proposal, and what is the Solicitor General doing to promote education about fraud, and prevention and discouragement of it, through effective early compliance?

What steps she is taking to help ensure effective prosecution of perpetrators of fraud and economic crime. What consideration has been given to establishing a dedicated anti-fraud or economic crime agency, and what is being done to promote education about fraud, and prevention and discouragement of it, through effective early compliance?

Every day that passes, more lives are destroyed by fraud. We urgently need a Government who understand the scale of that crisis and have a plan to tackle it. Five months ago, the Prime Minister stood at the Dispatch Box and told us that “the Government will shortly publish our fraud strategy…to block more scams and better protect the public.” The Solicitor General has told us again today that the strategy will come shortly. Do the Government have a different concept of time? What do they mean by “shortly”, and how much longer are we going to need to wait—or is this just another example of the Government making big promises on crucial issues and delivering absolutely nothing?