This is Simon Fell's weekly column for The Mail:

I’ve spent a great deal of time this week working on the issue of fraud. I was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Anti-Fraud Champion in December, and since then have been beavering away on the subject - meeting with victims, industry, law enforcement and many others to gain a better understanding of the issue, and how we can better respond to it.

Currently 70% of fraud in the UK has an international component - that is either criminals from overseas running campaigns or scams to defraud people, or the money from those frauds disappearing overseas or into cryptocurrency, with each border crossed making it harder for Police to follow. So working with international partners is an absolutely critical part of the response if we hope to change things. Otherwise, no number of additional Police in the UK will really make a difference.

On Sunday it was my pleasure to welcome HRH The Princess Royal to the Guildhall in London to launch the first Global Fraud Summit - bringing together the Home Secretary and his equivalents from the G7 and other partner nations, alongside industry such as the social media companies, law enforcement bodies, and other key players.

Over the next two days we had a frank discussion about the challenges we all face with this crime - from the horrific personal stories of those who have fallen victim to romance fraud (where a fraudster builds a relationship with you and then attempts to empty your accounts), to the serious and organised criminals who use fraud to fund other malicious activities, such as people trafficking, or even terrorism.

On Wednesday I appeared in front of the Home Affairs Committee to update on my work in this role, and to talk about the work that I’m leading to change our response to fraud. We just launched a big advertising campaign - Stop. Think Fraud. - to help drive public awareness and change behaviour, have hired 400 new Police Officers dedicated to tackling fraud (with another 100 on the way), and have signed a charter with the social media companies to get them to prevent fraud on their platforms. But there’s much more to do too.

I also met with the Rural Minister on Wednesday to discuss my report on improving rural connectivity. As with the fraud role, I have drawn on my experience with constituents and local businesses, and put together recommendations for what Government can do to better roll out 4G connectivity and fibre to rural areas. I work with DEFRA, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Number 10 to push this agenda forward. In 2019, just 6% of homes had access to gigabit broadband - now it is over 80%. That’s a huge achievement, but we have to knuckle down and get on delivering for the most rural areas - including in Furness.

On Thursday I took a long and winding journey from London to Cardiff, and then back to Barrow to meet with the team at Victim Support. They offer a remarkable service to victims of crime of all types. Again I was there with my fraud hat on, but I listened in on a call where they skilfully and compassionately helped with a domestic abuse case, and was taken aback by the operator’s calm and care.

Finally, back in Furness, I had a fascinating couple of days - holding a surgery, visiting Walney with the Council to push them on coastal erosion, seeing the work done on Duke Street thanks to the Heritage High Street Funding we’ve secured, celebrating 20 years of DropZone, and then some street surgeries on Saturday.

As ever, if my team or I can help with anything please just reach out: 01229 314 220 or Simon.fell.mp@parliament.uk