What steps he is taking to prevent internet fraud originating overseas.

We are talking to internet service providers about harmful content, including about what work they are doing to prevent internet fraud. The Office of Fair Trading is providing advice to consumers on how better to protect themselves, and UK law enforcement authorities are collaborating with police forces overseas to try to cut the problem off at source.

Staffordshire trading standards has a brilliant scheme whereby it trains volunteer watchdogs to protect their local communities. One small sign of its success is that it was a volunteer who raised the following issue with me. Has the Department noticed the incidence of foreign fraudsters using website addresses that end in ".co.uk", which misleads innocent dupes in the UK into thinking that they are trading with someone in this country, and are therefore protected by this country's Laws? When they have handed over their money, they find that it has disappeared somewhere overseas, and they have no recourse. Can anything be done about the use of ".co.uk"?

A series of initiatives is in place to try to give consumers better protection and to raise their awareness of the scams that my hon. Friend describes. He is right to pay tribute to the work of trading standards. We have worked with trading standards teams through the scambusters initiative in three pilot areas. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform recently announced funding to roll out the work of scambusters across the country. That work will focus on local problems, but it will also help to tackle internet fraud of the type that my hon. Friend describes.

Part of the problem in dealing with international internet fraud is the need to promote closer international co-operation. The Government signed the cybercrime convention in 2001 to promote closer cross-border working on the issue, but seven years later they have not even started to ratify the treaty. Why not?

The hon. Gentleman is right to say that stronger collaboration is needed, both across Europe and more generally, if we are to protect UK consumers from internet fraud. He may not be aware that there is now a network of consumer centres across the European Union, with which we work closely to help to tackle problems that our constituents face in their dealings overseas. Issues to do with internet fraud are being looked into under that regime, too.