To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what criminal offences have been introduced by his Department in primary legislation since October 2006. (149720)

For my Department during the period in question, the only primary legislation that introduced criminal offences was the Fraud Act 2006. That Act, owned by the Home Office until the creation of the Ministry of Justice, created a mixture of new offences and those that replaced earlier existing criminal offences. However counting all offences created by the Fraud Act including those replacing existing offences the Act created five new offences:

These are as follows:

Section 1 Fraud. This replaced various deception offences in the Theft Acts 1968 and 1978, the Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 and the Theft (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.

Section 6 Possession etc. of articles for use in frauds: This is a new offence but it replaced the “cheat” elements of section 25 of the Theft Act 1968 and section 24 of the Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969. The new offence in section 6 is broader than the cheat element of section 24 and section 25 had been.

Section 7 Making or supplying articles for use in frauds.

Section 9 Participating in a fraudulent business carried on by a sole trader etc.

Section 11 Obtaining services dishonestly: This replaced section 1 of the Theft Act 1978 and Article 3 of the Theft (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.