Fraud and Economic Crime: Prosecution
Wednesday, 14 October 2026
Contributions
Ian Sollom (St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire) (LD)Liberal Democrat
1. What steps she is taking to help ensure the effective prosecution of fraud and economic crime.
The Solicitor General (Andy Slaughter)Labour
We are determined to make the UK a more hostile environment for all forms of economic crime, including fraud. In the last financial year, the Crown Prosecution Service completed more than 8,000 fraud and forgery prosecutions—an increase of about 10% on the year before—and we are not stopping there. In June, the CPS launched its new serious economic and organised crime strategy, which is modernising its response and strengthening capability to address increasingly sophisticated crime.
Fraud is growing, and artificial intelligence is making it easier for it to be committed at scale. While cases can be complex, all too often victims tell me that they feel abandoned by the system. The CPS strategy folds fraud into organised crime and national security issues, and none of its seven priorities is actually about victims; in that regard, it differs from the previous economic crime strategy. How will the Solicitor General ensure that fraud victims are not lost in the CPS’s new approach?
As the hon. Gentleman will know, organised crime is an important part of fraud, and the two go hand in hand. The Serious Fraud Office investigates the most serious types of fraud and bribery, and other matters. However, we are very conscious of the fact that tens of thousands of individuals—our constituents—are affected, and that will be central to this aim.
Gareth Snell (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab/Co-op)Labour (Co-op)
Can the Solicitor General update the House on whether he believes that there are sufficient asset recovery powers to ensure that crime does not pay, and can he explain how those powers are being used?
We have taken considerable steps along that route. As well as securing convictions, prosecutors can use confiscation and asset recovery powers to seize the proceeds of offending. Between 2020 and 2025, the CPS recovered more than £530 million through confiscation orders, of which £102 million was paid to victims in compensation.
Source: UK Parliament Hansard API. Debate ID: 5416633.