The Online Harms White Paper sets out our plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online. We intend to establish in law a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. Ahead of the implementation of the new regulatory framework, we continue to work closely with companies to encourage them to take early action to address online harms.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Ministry of Justice have also engaged the Law Commission on a second phase of their review of abusive and offensive online communications. As part of this the Law Commission will also look at the criminal law around the non-consensual taking and sharing of intimate images. This includes the creation and sharing of deepfake images. The review will look at existing offences and identify whether there are any gaps in the scope of the protection already offered to victims, making recommendations to ensure that the criminal law provides consistent and effective protection against the creation and sharing of intimate images without consent.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Dissolution.

The Government is working with industry to close down the vulnerabilities that fraudsters exploit. This is a shared endeavour between government, regulators, law enforcement and the private sector, with the Joint Fraud Taskforce (JFT) leading work to tackle the fraud threat collectively.

On 14 September new rules under the second Payment Services Directive, known as Strong Customer Authentication, came into effect. These rules set out how banks and payment services providers verify their customers' identity or validate specific payment instructions. These measures will strengthen the authentication of electronic payments and help to limit Card Not Present fraud. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have agreed to give firms up to 18 months to fully implement the Strong Customer Authentication rules.

The industry-led Confirmation of Payee scheme is due to be introduced in early 2020. This scheme will make it harder for fraudsters to trick victims into sending money by impersonating a legitimate organisation. The scheme will check that names on accounts match those of the intended recipient and provide the customer with a warning where it does not.

The National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) Active Cyber Defence (ACD) initiative aims to protect the UK from high-volume commodity attacks that affect people’s everyday lives. ACD seeks to protect people in the UK from the harm caused by online attacks. The NCSC has delivered advice and guidance to the UK economy and wider society, and tools like ACD are designed to stop many malicious emails and links from reaching their targets.

The Government continues to boost the law enforcement capabilities of the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU), supported by dedicated funding for specialist cyber units in all 43 local forces.

The Government is also undertaking a Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) review led by Sir Craig Mackey QPM. The review will cover the powers, capabilities, governance and effectiveness of funding across the policing and law enforcement landscape, including the NCA and the wider justice system, and will make recommendations that should be delivered through the 2020 spending review to strengthen the SOC system.

The Government is committed to ensuring that only safe products are sold to UK consumers, particularly for vulnerable consumers including children. There are stringent requirements for manufacturers to ensure products placed on the market are safe. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has been established to provide leadership of the consumer product safety system and is undertaking a programme of work on the safety of products sold online.

The Online Harms White Paper states that the scope of the regulatory framework and duty of care "will include companies from a range of sectors, including social media companies, public discussion forums and retailers that allow users to review products online". It also includes the sale of illegal goods and services on the open internet as a proposed area in scope of regulatory activity.

We are currently analysing all responses to the White Paper's public consultation, and considering the issues raised. The Government will publish its response to the consultation in the coming months, following that, we will publish draft legislation for pre-legislative scrutiny.

The information used in the ‘Universal Credit Uncovered’ Metro campaign was sourced by Departmental officials. The campaign graphics were designed by Metro’s in-house design team as part of the Department’s media partnership with them.

We went to great lengths to ensure the factual accuracy of the campaign through extensive consultation within the Department, including the Government Legal Department. We also consulted with the Advertising Standards Authority Copy Advice Team prior to the launch and continued to do so throughout the campaign lifetime.

The Metro partnership was designed to increase understanding of Universal Credit and ensure people have the right factual information they need to make a claim and understand their potential entitlement.

The Government recognises the importance of a smooth and timely process for overseas electors in regards to the 12 December General Election, and has taken steps to ensure that postal votes reach overseas electors in good time to cast their vote.

The timetable for UK elections was revised in 2013 to extend the time available for postal vote packs to be printed, posted and returned. We are also working with Royal Mail to set up a dedicated scheme for Returning Officers to use to expedite the delivery of postal votes to overseas electors. If an elector is concerned that their local postal services are irregular or if they live far from the UK, we advise that they consider voting by proxy as an alternative to a postal vote.

The Government has no plans to bring forward legislative proposals to enable British citizens living overseas who have postal votes to receive postal vote packs by email or vote online. The selection of elected representatives for Parliament is regarded as requiring the highest possible level of integrity and, at present, there are concerns that online voting, by any means, is not seen by many to be suitably rigorous and secure, and could be vulnerable to attack or fraud.

Our current election process is robust and the Government is committed to increasing transparency in digital campaigning to maintain a fair and proportionate democratic process. The Cabinet Office has announced a range of measures to better safeguard UK elections against any potential intimidation, malign influence, interference and disinformation.

This included commitments to launch a consultation on electoral integrity and implement a digital imprints regime for online election material.

The consultation may consider recommendations for further increasing transparency on digital political advertising; closing potential loopholes on foreign spending in elections; and preventing shell companies from sidestepping the current rules on political finance.

The Register to Vote website has undertaken two essential maintenance windows so far in October 2019. The service was offline from 8:30am to 10:30am on Friday 4th October and Friday 25th October. This maintenance is essential to ensure the service remains secure and fit for purpose.

We are always looking for improvements to the service including reducing the downtime required for maintenance work.

The Register to Vote website has had no downtime so far in October 2019 as a result of non-scheduled maintenance or non-maintenance issues.

The Department takes seriously the need to support vulnerable claimants, and wants the application process for Universal Credit to be as quick and easy as possible, ensuring that claimants receive money at the earliest opportunity. It is designed to be a ‘digital-first’ service, ensuring we make best use of technology to deliver a modern and effective working-age welfare system, allowing our staff to concentrate on those people who require additional support.

Any digital claim can be treated as a non-digital claim. For instance, if a claimant’s circumstances change and contacting them digitally is no longer suitable for a short or significant period of time, agents can annotate the claim and take the same action as they would have if the claim had originally made as a non-digital claim.

We are already committed to placing Universal Credit guidance in the House of Commons Library and last updated it on 28 March 2019.

Our Universal Credit Claimant Survey, found that 98 per cent of claimants have internet access and did claim online, and the majority of those said they found the claim process overall to be straightforward. This can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-full-service-claimant-survey

All Jobcentre Plus offices across the country have Wi-Fi and computers available for claimants to access the internet. For those that are still unable to access or use digital services, or are not able to travel, assistance to make and maintain their claim is available via the Freephone Universal Credit helpline – which is clearly displayed on GOV.UK.

Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland have been delivering the ‘Help to Claim’ service on a pilot basis since April 2019. The Citizens Advice Help to Claim service offers tailored, practical support to help people make a Universal Credit claim up to receiving their first full correct payment on time, and is available online, on the phone and face-to-face through local Citizen’s Advice services.

Although the Department offers comprehensive support for claimants to use our digital service, there will be occasions when people are unable to make their claim online, and so telephone applications can be accepted. In these instances, information normally available through a claimant’s online account, will be communicated in an alternative format which is best suited to an individual’s circumstances.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician

Rt Hon. the Lord Robathan

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

25 October 2019

Dear Lord Robathan,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what estimate has been made of the level of online fraud in each year from 2015 to 2019; whether that level increased and if so, how any increase compares to the number of other reported crimes (HL361).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes figures on crime in England and Wales based on two main data sources: Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime. The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is face-to-face victimisation survey in which people resident in households in England and Wales are asked about their experiences of a range of crimes, including fraud, in the 12 months prior to interview. Police recorded crime data for fraud offences incorporates information collated by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB).

The CSEW provides the best measure of fraud offences directly experienced by individuals in England and Wales. Online fraud are cases when the internet or any type of online activity was related to any aspect of the offence. Comparable data for this offence are only available from 2016 as victimisation questions on fraud are relatively new to the survey[1].

Table 1 sets out incidents of fraud and online fraud measured by CSEW from the year ending March 2017 to March 2019. There has been a 16% rise in online fraud (to 3.4 million offences) in the last year. However, the latest figure is at a similar level to that seen in the year ending March 2017. All CSEW crime excluding fraud and computer misuse showed no change over this period, despite some apparent fluctuation over the last two years.

The ONS also publishes quarterly data on individual crime types covering England and Wales with associated Appendix Tables[2]

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: Incidents of fraud and online fraud, year ending March 2017 to March 2019 CSEW[3][4]

Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics

[1] The victimisation questions on fraud and computer misuse were incorporated into the CSEW from October 2015. Up to September 2017 the questions were asked of half the survey sample. From October 2017 onwards the questions are being asked of a full survey sample.

[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingjune2019

[3] New victimisation questions on fraud and computer misuse were incorporated into the CSEW from October 2015. Up to September 2017 the questions were asked of half the survey sample. From October 2017 onwards the questions are being asked of a full survey sample.

[4] In March 2018 the new CSEW estimates on fraud and computer misuse were assessed by the Office for Statistics Regulation against the Code of Practice for Statistics and were awarded National Statistics status.

[5] See Section 5 of the User Guide for more information about the crime types included in this table.

[6] Online Fraud represents fraud cases that were flagged as cyber because the internet or any type of online activity was related to any aspect of the offence.

The Government recognises the potential challenges artificial intelligence and digitally manipulated content, including “deepfakes”, may pose. We are considering these issues carefully as part of cross-Whitehall efforts to tackle online manipulation.

The Cabinet Office is taking a cross-Government approach to the safeguarding of our electoral processes through the Defending Democracy programme, including in relation to online manipulation. The Government has announced a range of measures to safeguard UK elections, including commitments to launch a consultation on electoral integrity and implementing a digital imprints regime for online election material. More detail on both of these will be brought forward in the coming months.

The Online Harms White Paper set out the Government's plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online. We intend to establish a new statutory duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator, to ensure companies have appropriate processes in place to deal with harmful content on their service, and keep their users safe. Disinformation is one of the harms proposed to be in scope of the regulator.

Protecting children is at the heart of our online harms agenda and is key to wider government priorities. The government published the Online Harms White Paper in April this year which proposed the establishment of a duty of care on companies to improve online safety, overseen by an independent regulator with strong enforcement powers to deal with non-compliance.

The White Paper sets out our expectation that companies should protect children from inappropriate content, including pornography, and we will produce guidance for companies to keep children safe online, ahead of the new regulatory framework.

We are committed to the UK becoming a world-leader in the development of online safety technology and expect age verification to continue to be a tool used by companies to keep children safe online.