Mr. Gareth ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the level of identity theft; what action he is taking to prevent it; and if he will make a statement. [66482]
§ Beverley HughesI refer my hon. Friend to the reply the Minister of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr. Denham) gave the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet (Sir Sydney Chapman) on 9 April 2002,Official Report, column 702W.
Since my right hon. Friend's answer, these figures have been revised. The Cabinet Office published a report on 3 July 2002 stating that the minimum cost of identity fraud to the economy is now estimated to be in excess of £1.3 billion per annum. Two key reasons for this are the weaknesses in the process used to issue documents used as identity, and the weaknesses in processes used to check identity at point of use.
My right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary published a consultation paper on the subject of entitlement cards and identity fraud on 3 July 2002 which details, and seeks 1061W views on, the potential initiatives to counter identity fraud outlined in the answer to which I referred. The paper also sets out the Home Office's intention to set up a new Identity Fraud Forum to steer the work of the identity fraud work programme.