Fraud Bill [Lords]

If we can repeal the offence, our preference would be to do so, but we want to ensure that we deal with the issues of fraud, so that is not appropriate at present. The prosecuting authorities and the judges took the view that we need to approach the matter with caution. The Rose committee, whose opinion is highly valued, did not consider it appropriate to repeal the offence at this stage. In principle, though, I have sympathy with the point raised by my hon. Friend. The Bill will not be a panacea for preventing fraud. We should not overrate the capacity of the criminal law alone to solve this or any other problem. The Bill is only one of a number of measures in hand to combat fraud. Among those measures, we have provided considerable resources for the Serious Fraud Office and the City of London police to tackle fraud, including £1.08 million this year, which has been matched by the City of London. That has gone to the City of London police. We have also set up the Serious Organised Crime Agency, which is a new force in tackling and defeating serious organised crime. The Government plan to introduce a stand-alone Bill to address the issue of non-jury trials. We have also set up a wide-ranging review of fraud to examine the UK’s long-term response to fraud. The fraud review should report shortly, and we expect it to recommend a coherent strategy for preventing, detecting and penalising fraud, and to suggest ways to improve upon the use of the various tools and techniques at our disposal to reduce the incidence of fraud and the harm to which it can lead. This Bill is largely based on the Law Commission’s original proposals, and it is only part of the Government’s strategy for combating fraud, but it is a measure that has been eagerly awaited by many of the agencies that prosecute, and by the police. It should improve the prosecution process by reducing the chance of offences being wrongly charged, and provide greater flexibility to keep pace with the increasing use of technology in crimes of fraud. When hon. Members consider the Bill in Committee and on Report, I hope that they give it a fair wind, so that it can proceed into law and be enforced, which will reduce some of the fraud that is all too often committed against families in this country.