Written questions by McMurdock.

What steps her Department is taking to (a) identify and (b) prevent child sex trafficking.

The trafficking of children for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. This Government has set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we will use all the levers available to us to deliver this. This will include working closely with law enforcement partners, such as the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme (TOEX), which continues work to develop a whole system approach to improving intelligence, analysis, and tasking to enhance law enforcement response to the exploitation of vulnerable people, including victims of trafficking, sexual exploitation, and abuse.The following table shows the number of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM, the framework for identifying and referring potential victims of modern slavery to appropriate support) for (partial or whole) sexual exploitation for children, at age of exploitation.YearNRM referrals for (either partial or whole) sexual exploitation for children at age of exploitation2020824202194320221115202311182024 (up to Q3)1036In addition to the statutory support local authorities provide to victims of modern slavery, for potential child victims, the Government has rolled out the Independent Child Trafficking Guardian (ICTG) service to two thirds of local authorities in England and Wales. The ICTG service is currently delivered by Barnardo's.

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Action Fraud reporting system.

This Government is committed to working with law enforcement, civil society and industry to better protect the public and businesses from fraud.The current technology used by the Action Fraud service is outdated and cannot cope with demand, with fraud and cyber crime now accounting for an estimated 49% of all crime recorded in the Crime Survey for England and Wales.We are replacing the current Action Fraud service with a new, improved service. The to provide better support services and reporting tools for victims, provide greater intelligence to law enforcement, and allow for greater prevention and disruption at scale.

If she will take steps to ensure that interim Serious Crime Prevention Orders are not used to target individuals engaging in lawful political dissent.

Serious Crime Prevention Orders are a powerful tool for preventing and disrupting the activities of the highest-harm criminals involved in serious crime. SCPOs are not intended to target individuals who conduct themselves lawfully, including lawful political dissent.SCPOs were established in the Serious Crime Act 2007. Schedule 1 of the Act sets out the serious offences for which an SCPO can be imposed. This includes a range of serious offences including drug trafficking, slavery, people trafficking, terrorism and firearms offences. Under section 2(2)(b) of the Act the court can impose an SCPO to prevent offences not in schedule 1 where the court considers the offence is sufficiently serious it should be treated as if it were set out in that list.

Whether her Department coordinates with the Solicitor General to ensure victims of fraud receive the financial protection and support they need during criminal investigations.

This Government is committed to working with law enforcement, civil society and industry to better protect the public and businesses from this appalling crime.Frauds with a total financial loss of £2.4 billion were reported to Action Fraud between Novembe...

What assessment she has made of the impact of fraud on the economy.

This Government is committed to working with law enforcement, civil society and industry to better protect the public and businesses from this appalling crime.Frauds with a total financial loss of £2.4 billion were reported to Action Fraud between Novembe...

What steps her Department is taking to ensure police officers have training specifically on (a) tackling fraud and (b) fraud prevention.

This Government is committed to working with law enforcement, civil society and industry to better protect the public and businesses from this appalling crime.Frauds with a total financial loss of £2.4 billion were reported to Action Fraud between Novembe...

What long-term programs are available to help fraud victims regain financial stability after a fraud incident.

This Government is committed to working with law enforcement, civil society and industry to better protect the public and businesses from this appalling crime.Frauds with a total financial loss of £2.4 billion were reported to Action Fraud between Novembe...

What steps her Department is taking to raise awareness of (a) fraud and (b) fraud prevention.

This Government is committed to working with law enforcement, civil society and industry to better protect the public and businesses from this appalling crime.Frauds with a total financial loss of £2.4 billion were reported to Action Fraud between Novembe...

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of (a) legal and (b) financial advice for victims of fraud.

This Government is committed to working with law enforcement, civil society and industry to better protect the public and businesses from this appalling crime.Frauds with a total financial loss of £2.4 billion were reported to Action Fraud between Novembe...

How many instances of online fraud were reported to the police in the 2023-24 financial year.

This Government is committed to working with law enforcement, civil society and industry to better protect the public and businesses from this appalling crime.Frauds with a total financial loss of £2.4 billion were reported to Action Fraud between Novembe...

If she will hold discussions with the Sentencing Council on the adequacy of sentencing guidelines in relation to perpetrators of fraud.

This Government is committed to working with law enforcement, civil society and industry to better protect the public and businesses from this appalling crime.Frauds with a total financial loss of £2.4 billion were reported to Action Fraud between Novembe...

What legal protections are available to fraud victims to prevent further (a) exploitation and (b) financial loss.

This Government is committed to working with law enforcement, civil society and industry to better protect the public and businesses from this appalling crime.Frauds with a total financial loss of £2.4 billion were reported to Action Fraud between Novembe...

What processes are in place to help victims of fraud recover lost (a) funds and (b) assets when the fraud is committed (i) online and (ii) by international scammers.

This Government is committed to working with law enforcement, civil society and industry to better protect the public and businesses from this appalling crime.Frauds with a total financial loss of £2.4 billion were reported to Action Fraud between Novembe...

If her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing the Police Uplift Programme ringfence clawback arrangement to prevent reduction of officer numbers in police forces (a) in

The 2025-26 provisional police funding settlement provides funding of up to £19.5 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an overall increase of up to £1 billion when compared to the 2024-25 settlement, and equates to a 5.5% cash inc...

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of a South East allowance for firefighters to support retention in (a) Essex and (b) other areas.

The Government has no role in either setting or agreeing firefighter pay or allowances.The final Local Government Finance Settlement 2024/25 has determined that overall fire and rescue authorities will receive around £2.87 billion this year to continue pr...

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of granting Police, Fire, and Crime Commissioners the authority to independently determine the level of council tax precept increases for police

The Government is committed to keeping taxes on working people as low as possible.Following consultation on the provisional local government settlement the final set of referendum principles will be put before the House of Commons for approval in the New ...

Whether her Department is taking steps to address funding shortfalls faced by Essex County Fire and Rescue Service in the context of the redistribution of the (a) Funding Guarantee Scheme and (b) Serv

Funding allocations for 2025/26 will be set out at the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement in December 2024. The Government has guaranteed that no local authority will see a reduction in their Core Spending Power in 2025-26 after taking accoun...

What assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the proposed 2025/26 funding settlement for Essex Police in the context of (a) the full-year cost of the 2023/24 pay award and (b) pay increm

The 2025-26 provisional police funding settlement provides funding of up to £19.5 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an overall increase of up to £1 billion when compared to the 2024-25 settlement, and equates to a 5.5% cash inc...

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of funding to mitigate the impact of unfunded pay increments for officers hired under the Police Uplift Programme in Essex.

The 2025-26 provisional police funding settlement provides funding of up to £19.5 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an overall increase of up to £1 billion when compared to the 2024-25 settlement, and equates to a 5.5% cash inc...

What steps her Department is taking to stop modern slavery practices within supply chains (a) domestically and (b) internationally.

The UK Government is committed to tackling all forms of modern slavery, holding perpetrators to account, and ensuring that victims are supported to recover and rebuild their lives.Long-term reform will focus on driving up prosecutions and convictions and ...