ON Friday, June 27, I held the first of what I hope to be many East Devon Jobs and Apprenticeship Fairs. The fair, held at the Honiton Community College with support from the Jobcentre Plus and the National Apprenticeship Service, was intended to help school leavers and job seekers find work and get careers advice to give young people the experience and skills they need to enter the workplace.
With more than 100 young people attending the fair looking for job and training opportunities, I think it was a huge success.
I was also honoured to have been asked by Army Careers Advisor Major Arthur Norman-Walker to present the Imperial Service Medal to Sylvia Pearce at the Jobs Fair for her 29-year service with the Ministry of Defence, and particularly with the Armed Forces Careers Office. The Imperial Service Medal is presented to selected civil servants who complete 25-year service upon their retirement and I wish her all the best for the future.
We are lucky in Devon to have one of the country's lowest unemployment levels and even this is falling. Devon has one of the fastest growing economies in the UK with the county worth more than £19bn and is the largest in South West England. However, there are still people looking for jobs and too many young people from the Westcountry move away to find their fortunes elsewhere. To stop this "brain drain" We need to show that Devon is a dynamic business environment with many great opportunities for young people. I have met many innovative businesses in Devon who are crying out for young talent and I hope that jobs fairs like this one this one will provide opportunities for both employers and those seeking work.
I hope the Jobs Fair shows that Devon is open for business and open for jobs. With so many innovative businesses I believe that young people have a bright future here in Devon and whether it is through getting a job, volunteering with a charity or doing an apprenticeship they will have the skills and confidence to have a fulfilling career.
I would like to thank and the businesses, the local councils and charities who agreed to take part and I would especially like to thank Honiton Community College for hosting the fair and Principal Glenn Smith for his support.
Last week, on Tuesday, July 1, I hosted a briefing in Parliament with Commander Stephen Head, National Coordinator for Economic Crime. I requested the Commander meet with MPs after I had been contacted by a number of constituents who have raised concerns with me about fraudulent websites, particularly those posing as official government websites.
Commander Head has had responsibility for ActionFraud since April 2014, which was established as a national body with the City of London Police so that all cyber and economic crime could be recorded nationally to identify particular trends and patterns, something that if it was only reported locally would just not be possible.
There have been concerns in the past that ActionFraud wasn't being run by the police and that victims of crime had little faith in the reporting system. Having received complaints from constituents about this in the past I was keen to press the Commander on what he is doing to improve the reporting of online fraud.
Commander Head assured me that he and his team were putting a new system in place and are improving the service offered to victims. After this meeting I believe that these new arrangement will help us tackle cybercrime.
Government figures indicate that around 79 to 80 per cent of individuals and 93 per cent of businesses are affected by cybercrime, which costs £28bn. In 2013, there were 40,000 reports of fraud, including cybercrime, which is a rise of 81 percent from the previous year.
Although crime stats are now the lowest since records began, cybercrime has increased dramatically. Due to the improvements in technology, criminal gangs no longer need to be computer literate to take advantage of this technology and carry out online fraud.
If you have been a victim of fraud then you can report it to ActionFraud online at www.actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040. If you do not want to report your crime online then you can do it through a third party like your local Member of Parliament so please do get in touch if you think I can help.
