Business Crime Wales goes live today (Thursday June 20) – the new on-line service will equip businesses with the knowledge and tools to ultimately protect themselves from crime which costs the Welsh economy hundreds of millions of pounds a year.
The creation of Business Crime Wales, which is led by Welsh Government in partnership with a range of organisations, was announced last year by Economy Minister Edwina Hart and is a commitment under the Programme for Government.
Crimes against business range from copyright theft to online fraud to theft or damage to property – while some crimes are specific to certain sectors such as rural and farming crimes or metal theft.
e-Crime alone costs the Welsh economy a staggering £974million annually and research has been commissioned to ascertain the full scale of other crimes against businesses.
The Minister said:” The cost of crime against business is having a seriously damaging effect on the Welsh economy as a whole and can have a devastating effect on the individual businesses targeted.
“Crime prevention or crime reduction is clearly a matter for police while the role of the Welsh Government is to provide overall leadership for raising awareness of business crime and its economic impact.
“We want to equip Welsh businesses with the knowledge and tools to be aware, vigilant and ultimately protect themselves from crime.
“This will be achieved through online tools and guides and building lessons learned into our business support activities and seminars.
Business Crime Wales is supported by a new Stakeholder Advisory Group which holds its first meeting today. Membership of the group reflects different areas of expertise relevant to business crime.
The Minister added she is grateful for their support and willingness to help tackle what is a very real and very serious issue affecting the livelihood of individuals and their businesses.
She said: “I believe that by working in partnership through Business Crime Wales we can help make a difference.”
Business Crime Wales will complement the work of the e-Crime Wales partnership that will continue to raise awareness of how to do business on line safely and securely.
Members of the Business Crime Wales Stakeholder Advisory Group include:
Matt Jukes, Assistant Chief Constable, South Wales Police and Association of Chief Police Officers Cymru;
David Williams, Federation of Small Businesses;
Bob Bevan, Newport Council and Wales Association of Community Safety Officers;
Dave Lowe, Intellectual Property Office;
Mike Jacklin, Wales Against Business Crime;
Mandy Haeburn-Little, Scottish Business Resilience Centre;
Steve Tooby, Welsh Fraud Forum
Glyn Roberts, Farmers Union of Wales
The Advisory Group will act as an expert group to advise the Welsh Government on its contribution to tackling business crime in the short, medium and long term; provide guidance and input to business crime strategies and associated campaigns and activities
The Welsh Government’s Business Crime Wales unit will provide overall leadership and co-ordinate new business crime prevention activities with existing activities being carried out by third party organisations.
Information can be accessed on: www.businesscrimewales.com