Consultation papers
New powers against organised and financial crime
The White Paper 'One Step Ahead' set out a radical departure in the way organised crime is tackled. It included proposals for institutional changes, new powers and the better use of existing ones, all integrated into a new strategy for tackling the problem. The fundamentals of this new approach are simple: turning away from defining success by the number of essentially tactical outputs (like volumes of seizures, or the number of arrests or operations) to measure success by the extent to which harms caused by organised crime and prevented in the first place; to demonstrate that illicit markets have been disrupted and to change profoundly the risk / reward relationship which currently favours the criminal.
Title: New powers against organised and financial crime
Author: Home Office
Number of pages: 51
Date published: July 2006
Availability:
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Progress Since the White Paper
The period since the White Paper has seen huge steps made to implement its vision and deliver a more effective national capability against organised crime. Most obvious have been the institutional changes. The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA) established the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), which came into being on 1 April 2006. Meanwhile, major steps have been taken to improve the police response to 'level 2' (regional) organised crime, long seen as a major gap.
Improving police force capacity against 'level 2' crime has been identified as one of the three initial priorities for the new National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), and £10m additional funds have been provided to forces in 2006-07 and 07-08 to build regional capacity. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary have reported on the need to improve forces' capacity in protective services, including against organised crime. The Home Secretary has made it clear that delivering this improved capacity is our priority, and discussions continue with police forces and authorities on the way ahead.
All these changes are necessary but not sufficient steps on the way to changing fundamentally the risks and rewards confronting potential organised criminals. The Government has been working over the past couple of years with SOCA's precursor agencies, SOCA itself and local forces to understand the business of organised crime, and to develop a strategy to change the risk reward relationship which organised criminals face.
There is no doubt that SOCPA and other recent initiatives have considerably improved the range of tools at agencies' disposal against serious and organised crime. Work with SOCA's precursor agencies, SOCA itself and law enforcement more generally has, however, suggested that some continuing gaps in our capability remain. Some of these were already highlighted in the White Paper, others have emerged while fleshing out with law enforcement the details of our new approach. Knowledge and Data Sharing Every single aspect of this new effort against organised crime depends on a considerable improvement in the quality and use of our information about the threat. Improved knowledge is SOCA's key strategic priority.
SOCA has radically overhauled the intelligence it inherited from the precursor agencies and is building a data set much more fit for purpose. The IMPACT programme for police forces is similarly putting in place a mechanism for sharing information across force intelligence databases. Underlying all this, and as anticipated in the White Paper, improved guidance has gone out on the sharing of law enforcement information, with a Code of Practice on the Management of Police Information issued earlier in 2006, and SOCA issuing in 2005 its own Statement of Information Management Practice setting out how it would use the specific gateways provided in SOCPA.
Pilot exercises in the identity fraud arena and within SOCA are throwing up striking examples of what can be done when public and private data is shared, with particular potential to reduce financial crime, money laundering and fraud. Pilot exercises within the insurance industry and analysis of fraud against the tax credit system are just two areas where closer scrutiny has revealed a much greater organised fraud component in what had previously been thought to be simple volume fraud.
Whenever problems with data sharing crop up, the assumption is often that there are problems with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). In practice, no evidence that the Act places genuine obstacles in the way of sensible and proportionate data sharing has been found. Excessive caution about the Act's provisions are a problem, as is the common fear that disclosure will have repercussions.
A more significant problem we have identified is with public sector bodies and departments whose underlying powers do, or are perceived to, set unnecessary limits on data sharing within the public sector and beyond.
This paper sets out some simple and practical steps for improved data sharing, which we believe could make a considerable impact against financial crime, fraud and money laundering. Our proposals reflect similar findings being identified in the Fraud Review, as well as the Lander review of the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) regime and the wider work across Government to develop a common strategy on data sharing across the public sector.
The paper sets out the aims that that Government agencies should commit to:
The public sector sharing information internally and with the private sector where this is potentially in the public domain anyway and would be helpful in preventing crime - for example the names and details of deceased persons
Putting a mechanism in place to enable the public sector to share information with themselves and with the private sector on suspected frauds. A strong vehicle for delivering this in the short term would be for departments and public agencies to become members of CIFAS – the UK's Fraud Prevention Service. This is likely to require legislation to amend the vires of a number of agencies, notably again HMRC, DWP and DVLA
Suspicious Activity Reports coming into SOCA being routinely matched against data in a range of other departments' databases, notably HMRC, DWP, DVLA and the Passport Service in order to develop the intelligence value of the reports and identify reports with a particularly strong indication of crime
The Audit Commission's National Fraud Initiative, which matches data across a range of public sector bodies to identify fraud against audited bodies, being put on a specific statutory footing, and its scope expanded
Law enforcement and the public sector being able to engage in targeted and proportionate data mining of public and private sector databases to identify cases where the information supplied for different purposes is so incongruous that there is a strong suspicion of criminal activity. These exercises will need to be carefully structured to ensure they get the balance right between the needs of law enforcement and the privacy of the individual.
Conclusion
Together, Government see the proposals in the consultation paper as marking a significant shift in the balance of power between organised crime and the public and would welcome views, particularly on the questions set out below.
Full details of the proposals can be found by
downloading the consultation paper
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Questions
Data-Sharing
Q1. Should public sector information on suspected fraudsters be shared more widely within the public sector and with the private sector to prevent and detect fraud? What sort of safeguards would you expect to see? What do you believe the most appropriate vehicle for data-sharing would be?
Q2. Should the scope of the National Fraud Initiative be expanded and placed on a statutory footing in order to increase its capacity to detect fraud within the public sector?
Q3. What are your views on SOCA matching Suspicious Activity Reports received from the regulated sector against a range of public sector databases.
Q4. We would welcome your views on what you would regard as appropriate and targeted data mining of public and private sector databases to detect and prevent criminal activity, and what the appropriate safeguards for such exercises should be.
The Criminal Law
Q5. Should Clause 2 be restricted to those who believe that an offence will take place or should this be widened?
Q6. Is the Government right to consider extending liability to those who indirectly encourage or assist a person (X) where they suspect this encouragement or assistance will aid X's criminal activities (as against specific criminal offences)?
Organised Crime Prevention Orders
Q7. The Government would welcome views on the kinds of conditions that might be attached to an organised crime prevention order.
Q8. The Government would welcome views on the types of situation where an organised crime prevention order may prove useful and proportionate in preventing organised criminality.
Q9. Should the prosecution be required (whether by legislation or court rule) specifically to draw the court's attention to relevant facts about the impact of potential orders upon the interests of third parties?
Proceeds of Crime
Q10. We would welcome your views on new measures to merge confiscation and enforcement hearings, to contract out enforcement of confiscation orders, to cancel orders which cannot be enforced, and to extend certain search and seizure powers to all financial investigators.
Q11. We welcome views and comments on further amending and improving the consent provisions in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 in a way which a) maintains the existing benefits to law enforcement agencies in terms of seizing and restraining suspect assets and disrupting criminal activity and b) enables the reporting sectors in industry to suspend transactions or activity with a client without making him/her suspicious.
How to contribute
The closing date for comments is 17th October 2006.
There are a variety of ways in which you can provide your views.
You can email:
oc.consultation@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Or you can write to:
OC Consultation Specialist Crime team 2 5th floor Fry building 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DFGetting a copy
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Last update: 19 July 2006