Fraud Bill [HL]

My Lords, the difficulty is that we are dealing with an offence—conspiracy to defraud—that is at present quite regularly indicted. Therefore, the question that we must ask ourselves as we legislate responsibly, as I know we will, is whether we can be sufficiently confident that we will not be leaving outside the area of conduct that ought to be prosecuted in the public interest conduct of that sort. I will come back to this, but we can take the view that it is unnecessary to abolish conspiracy to defraud now in the Bill. We can look to see how the Act operates in practice; we can look to see what the Law Commission has to say about the law of conspiracy and participation more generally; and we can look to see how the multiple offending provisions operate. We can always return to it in future if it appears clear that it is no longer necessary. I know that noble Lords will wish to return to the issue. I welcome the support for the Bill and look forward to the discussion that we will have. To any noble Lord who would find it helpful, I offer at all stages, before Committee and thereafter, the opportunity informally to discuss these matters or to receive any further information. I will announce an open meeting to provide further information before the Committee stage so that all can participate. In commending the Bill to the House, I invite noble Lords to accept that it should have a Second Reading. On Question, Bill read a second time.