WEDNESDAY 25 APRIL 2007

COMMANDER SUE WILKINSON, MR BILL HUGHES AND MS SHARON LEMON

  Q1120  Earl of Errol: I think it would be useful if people could know where to go.

  Ms Lemon: Absolutely.

  Commander Wilkinson: If you look on the Fraud Alert website already that kind of guidance is available through that website as it is through several others. The point is to bring them all together and communicate it well so that the public generally understand where to go. I think the problem at the moment is that they do not necessarily understand where to go.

  Mr Hughes: The analogy with the CEOPS centre is sensible because if you are a child and you are on these Internet chat sites and various groups and domains that are set up then they will have the Virtual Global Taskforce sign and it is this push/pull: do people have to go looking for it or is it brought to their attention? What we are looking at are ways in which we can perhaps link those. For example, to pick up a point you were making just now about the way that the American legislation has gone, if you are on you banking site doing your Internet banking then perhaps there ought to be a sign there for where you go rather than you having to go looking for something in order to make a report. Obviously with police force websites and SOCA's websites we can perhaps indicate where people can go, but they have to go looking for it, whereas if they are doing their Internet banking and if it is on their e-mail ISP provider's site "Here's where I go to report a crime" then that maybe the way we need to go in the future.

  Commander Wilkinson: To be fair to the ISPs, a lot of this information is on their websites already and as soon as you call it up on your home page the advice is there and the warnings are there. We work closely in partnership with industry to further that.

  Q1121  Chairman: We have come to the end of our questions. Thank you very much indeed for your input. It has been very valuable and very useful to us. Should you think of anything that you think we should know as we come now to writing our report and the recommendations, then please let us know.

  Mr Hughes: To reciprocate on that, if your clerk wants any assistance from us then we are more than happy to provide that in any way we can.

  Chairman: Thank you all very much.