18 January 2007

Home Office

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/

Home Office Publishes Serious Crime Bill

New powers to tackle serious crime Home Office publishes Serious Crime Bill

Proposals for strong new measures to crack down on serious crime were set out today as the Home Office published the Serious Crime Bill.

The measures in the Bill will help deliver the Government's strategy to tackle organised crime and allow us to attack the behaviour of those who profit from damage to our communities.

The Serious Crime Bill includes proposals to:

* Introduce new civil Serious Crime Prevention Orders to prevent criminal activity by individuals or organisations by imposing conditions on them;

* Create new offences of encouraging or assisting another person to commit an offence; and

* Combat fraud through greater controlled data-sharing within the public sector, and between the private and public sectors.

These new measures will make life more difficult for serious criminals by disrupting their operations, as well as ensuring that they do not benefit from the harm they cause to the public. They will also ensure those more loosely connected with serious criminal groups cannot avoid prosecution.

Home Office Minister, Vernon Coaker, said:

"Serious crime is a menace to our society. It brings misery to the lives of those it touches and the Government is determined to do everything possible to prevent it, to detect it and to make sure that criminals do not benefit from it.

"The new measures focus on critical aspects such as detecting, disrupting and preventing serious crime and build on existing legislation. For example, the new Serious Crime Prevention Orders will allow the courts to impose restrictive conditions on those involved in serious crime, making it very difficult for them to operate.

"We are committed to providing the best possible tools for our law enforcement agencies to ensure they stay one step ahead of those who commit serious crime and these tough new measures will strengthen their ability to crack down on criminals and disrupt their operations."

Notes to Editors:

1. The Serious Crime Bill was introduced to the House of Lords on 16 January 2007 and published today (17 January 2007).

2. The Serious Crime Bill and explanatory notes are available online at: http://www.parliament.uk/business/bills_and_legislation.cfm

3. Previous legislation includes:
* Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005
* Proceeds of Crime Act 2002

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