Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General (1) how many telephone calls the Serious Fraud Office's whistleblower hotline has received in the last year; (2) how many criminal investigations by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) have been initiated as a direct result of a tip-off to the SFO's whistleblower hotline in the last year.

The Solicitor-General (Oliver Heald): The Serious Fraud Office launched ‘SFO Confidential’ on 1 November 2011. Between 1 November 2011 and 18 November 2012, the SFO received 125 postal referrals, 2,083 email referrals and 1,057 telephone referrals. The SFO both investigates and prosecutes serious and complex fraud, bribery and corruption. Two investigations have been initiated following referrals to SFO Confidential.

SFO Confidential is for people who want to tell the SFO about serious or complex fraud or corruption, including whistleblowers. The SFO decided to close the telephone element of SFO Confidential on 12 June 2012 because a disproportionate amount of staff time was being spent dealing with telephone calls that did not contribute to this aim.

The National Fraud Hotline remains available for all types of fraud referrals, and SFO Confidential can be contacted by email and post, or through the secure online reporting form.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General how many criminal prosecutions by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) have been initiated as a direct result of a tip-off to the SFO's whistleblower hotline in the last year.

The Attorney-General (Dominic Grieve): Two investigations have been initiated following referrals to SFO Confidential but neither case has yet reached a prosecution stage.