Found: asked whether the Department was satisfied that the proposed mandatory reporting duty in the Crime and Policing Bill

Found: devil is in the detail with a duty to report, obviously, and I looked at the clause in the Crime and Policing Bill

Found: I was referring to the new criminal offence of spiking, which we introduce d through the Crime and Policing Bill

Found: Likewise, around the mandatory reporting, with the Crime and Policing Bill, we want to ensure that the

Found: Q4 Chair: The new Crime and Policing Bill has a new offence of child exploitation, which strikes me

Found: Likewise, around the mandatory reporting, with the Crime and Policing Bill, we want to ensure that the

Found: Q4 Chair: The new Crime and Policing Bill has a new offence of child exploitation, which strikes me

Found: Q4 Chair: The new Crime and Policing Bill has a new offence of child exploitation, which strikes me

Found: Q4 Chair: The new Crime and Policing Bill has a new offence of child exploitation, which strikes me

Found: The proposed mandatory reporting duty for child sexual abuse, which is included in the Crime and Policing Bill

Found: .  Possession of NCII as an Offence: The Government should amend the Crime and Policing Bill to make

Submit Evidence (by 25 Apr 2025)

The Joint Committee on Human Rights is conducting legislative scrutiny of the Crime and Policing Bill to assess its compatibility with international and domestic human rights standards. 

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of (1) theft from farms and (2) flytipping in each of the last three years, and what steps they are taking to reduce these.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Data on overall levels of farming theft has been collected by stakeholders. In 2023, National Farmers Union Mutual estimated the cost of specific crimes that victimise famers:

• GPS theft: £4.2 million
• Quad bike/All-Terrain vehicle theft: £3.2 million
• Agricultural vehicle theft: £10.7 million

We recognise the importance of tackling rural crime and are committed to safeguarding rural communities. The Home Office and Defra are working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council to deliver the updated Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy.

The Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 requires secondary legislation before it can come into effect. We are currently considering the views of those who may be affected by the legislation and its regulations, to understand the potential implications and determine the scope of the legislation. We will publish the Government’s response to the Call for Evidence on the scope of the legislation soon and intend to have the necessary regulations in place later this year.

Local authorities are required to report fly-tipping incidents and enforcement actions to Defra, which we publish annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england. This excludes the majority of private-land incidents.

Local authorities have enforcement powers to help them tackle fly-tipping, including fixed penalty notices and prosecution action which can lead to a significant fine or imprisonment. We intend to seek powers in the Crime and Policing Bill to enable the Secretary of State to issue statutory enforcement guidance to support local authorities to appropriately and consistently exercise their enforcement powers.

We have committed in our manifesto to forcing fly-tippers and vandals to clean up their mess. We will provide an update on this in due course.

We will continue to work with stakeholders through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group, such as the National Farmers Union, local authorities and police, to promote and disseminate good practice on tackling fly-tipping.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were convicted of taking control over the home of another person to use it for criminal activity in each of the last five years.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The taking control over the home of another person to use it for criminal activity, often referred to as ‘cuckooing’, is not currently a standalone criminal offence and therefore there is no data on the number of convictions.

However, the Government recognises the harm caused by cuckooing which is why we are introducing a new criminal offence in the Crime and Policing Bill.

This new cuckooing offence will ensure that we are taking strong action against those who prey on vulnerable people and help to ensure that victims are identified and protected from this appalling crime.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that people in safeguarding roles are continuously educated on the evolving gang culture lexicon.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The relevant statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children (2023), is clear that children at risk of harm outside the home should receive a multi-agency safeguarding response. The guidance also makes clear that all practitioners working with children and families need to understand their role in identifying emerging problems and need appropriate training so that they are able to identify and recognise all forms of abuse, neglect, and exploitation and remain aware of new and emerging threats.

A robust safeguarding framework is in place that schools and colleges must have regard to in the form of the statutory guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE). The guidance is clear that every school must have a designated safeguarding lead (DSL) who should take lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection. DSLs are required to undergo the training needed to provide them with the knowledge and skills required to carry out their role effectively within their school and community context, including how to identify, and respond to both vulnerabilities and specific harms that put children at risk, including serious violence and the risk of criminal exploitation.

In addition, the Government is committed to tackling the gangs that lure children and young people into criminality and exploitation which is why through our Crime and Policing Bill, we are introducing a new offence of child criminal exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, we are targeting exploitative drug dealing gangs and providing specialist support for children and young people to escape county lines and child criminal exploitation. To increase awareness of county lines exploitation amongst those best placed to spot it, frontline professionals can access guidance on how to identify potential victims of county lines and appropriate referral routes: Criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults: county lines - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Regulatory Policy Committee's press release entitled Crime and Policing Bill: late publication of Home Office impact assessments, published on 10 March, for what reason those impact assessments were not published on 25 February 2025.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government has published four Economic Notes and two Economic Impact Assessments covering measures in the Crime and Policing Bill, which can be found here: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3938/publications.

Two further Economic Impact Assessments, relating to the duty to report child sexual abuse, and the provisions in the Bill relating to SIM farms, the power to suspend IP addresses and domain names, and criminal liability of bodies corporate and partnerships, will be published soon.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2025 to Question 38055 on Public Space Protection Orders: Fixed Penalties, whether (a) local authorities and (b) outsourced contracts can generate a profit from the issuing of fixed penalty notices.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police, local authorities and other local agencies with a range of tools and powers they can use to respond to anti-social behaviour (ASB), including the Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO).

The powers in the 2014 Act are deliberately flexible in nature, and it is for local agencies to determine whether their use is appropriate in the specific circumstances of each individual case.

The Home Office does currently not hold data on the number of PSPOs in force but is taking action to address that through the Government’s Crime and Policing Bill, introduced to Parliament on 25 February 2025. This Bill will introduce a new power for the Home Secretary to make regulations requiring key local agencies, such as local authorities, to report information about ASB to the Government.

Breach of a PSPO is a criminal offence. Depending on the behaviour in question, the enforcing officer could decide a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) would be the most appropriate sanction. As set out in legislation, FPNs have a fixed upper limit of £100. Provisions in the Crime and Policing Bill will increase the upper limit for breach of a PSPO to £500. This is a penalty for failing to comply with a requirement of the PSPO.

We will be issuing accompanying statutory guidance which will emphasise the importance of the new limits being used proportionately. The guidance will also recommend that local authorities include wording on proportionate use of FPNs in any service level agreements with contractors.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department holds data on the Public Space Protection Orders in force by local authority.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police, local authorities and other local agencies with a range of tools and powers they can use to respond to anti-social behaviour (ASB), including the Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO).

The powers in the 2014 Act are deliberately flexible in nature, and it is for local agencies to determine whether their use is appropriate in the specific circumstances of each individual case.

The Home Office does currently not hold data on the number of PSPOs in force but is taking action to address that through the Government’s Crime and Policing Bill, introduced to Parliament on 25 February 2025. This Bill will introduce a new power for the Home Secretary to make regulations requiring key local agencies, such as local authorities, to report information about ASB to the Government.

Breach of a PSPO is a criminal offence. Depending on the behaviour in question, the enforcing officer could decide a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) would be the most appropriate sanction. As set out in legislation, FPNs have a fixed upper limit of £100. Provisions in the Crime and Policing Bill will increase the upper limit for breach of a PSPO to £500. This is a penalty for failing to comply with a requirement of the PSPO.

We will be issuing accompanying statutory guidance which will emphasise the importance of the new limits being used proportionately. The guidance will also recommend that local authorities include wording on proportionate use of FPNs in any service level agreements with contractors.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) retail and (b) hospitality businesses in the West Midlands.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

We are delivering across government to create better conditions for retail and hospitality businesses to thrive.

This government has introduced the Crime and Policing Bill, which will scrap the effective immunity for low-value shoplifting and do more to protect retail workers from assault. We have introduced High Street Rental Auction powers for local authorities, which will make town centre tenancies more accessible and affordable for SMEs, local businesses and community groups. And we are delivering permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure properties from 2026-27.

Last year the Business Secretary announced a new Business Growth Service which will make it easier and quicker for businesses across the United Kingdom to get the help, support and advice they need to grow and thrive. The West Midlands Growth Hub is where small and medium businesses in the West Midlands can benefit from specialist business advice on how to grow, access new markets and receive government support.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support local government to help tackle flytipping and littering.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Local councils have wide ranging enforcement powers to help them tackle littering and fly-tipping. These include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000 to fly-tippers and £500 to those who litter, prosecution action and, in the case of fly-tipping, vehicle seizure. We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers, and we are currently seeking powers in the Crime and Policing Bill to issue statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance.

We have committed to forcing fly-tippers and vandals to clean up the mess that they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course.

Defra also chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders, such as local authorities and the Environment Agency, to promote and disseminate good practice with regards to preventing fly-tipping. Various practical tools are available from their webpage which is available here.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the number of incidences of upskirting.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government and we are committed to addressing all forms of VAWG, including non-contact sexual offences, such as exposure and voyeurism (such as so-called 'upskirting').

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, three new offences will be introduced, for the taking of intimate images without consent, alongside two offences for the installation of equipment with intent to enable these offences. This will cover a broader range of behaviour than the two existing voyeurism offences that they will replace.

We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that the right powers are available for the authorities to tackle sexual crimes, bring perpetrators to justice and manage sex offenders. More broadly, we will be publishing a new VAWG Strategy later this year, taking forward our unprecedented mission to halve VAWG over the next decade.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle upskirting.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government and we are committed to addressing all forms of VAWG, including non-contact sexual offences, such as exposure and voyeurism (such as so-called 'upskirting').

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, three new offences will be introduced, for the taking of intimate images without consent, alongside two offences for the installation of equipment with intent to enable these offences. This will cover a broader range of behaviour than the two existing voyeurism offences that they will replace.

We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that the right powers are available for the authorities to tackle sexual crimes, bring perpetrators to justice and manage sex offenders. More broadly, we will be publishing a new VAWG Strategy later this year, taking forward our unprecedented mission to halve VAWG over the next decade.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the tools available to (a) bars and (b) venues to (i) help prevent and (ii) spiking incidents.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Spiking is an appalling crime that undermines the people's right to feel safe when they are simply enjoying a night out.

The Government is currently delivering a range of measures to tackle this vile practice, specifically targeted at raising awareness, identifying perpetrators, and gathering evidence. They include:

• Introducing a new criminal offence for spiking to help police better respond to this crime. This is being delivered through the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently at Committee Stage in the House of Commons.
• Funding the development and delivery of increased training on spiking to staff in the Night Time Economy at no cost to venues.
• Working with the regulator of the UK private security industry, the Security Industry Authority to deliver mandatory spiking training for their 352,000+ door supervisor licence holders by April 2028. This has already been delivered to more than 135,000 new licence applicants since Spring 2024.
• The funding of police spiking "intensification weeks" which have seen an enhanced focus on spiking and led to increased arrests, detections, and prevention activity taking place.
• Investing in research into the accuracy and efficacy of commercially available spiking testing kits, to help the police detect if someone has been spiked in real-time.

The Home Office works closely with the hospitality and third sectors, as well as law enforcement to ensure that we are delivering measures on spiking which make it more difficult to carry out in the first place, that venues and the emergency services are proving the best possible response, and that victims are listened to and feel supported.

A wide range of spiking training, resources, support and advice options are available across a number of organisations, many of whom are referenced on the Government's spiking web pages or within our training package.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help (a) identify and (b) promote new ways for (i) bars and (ii)venues to prevent spiking.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Spiking is an appalling crime that undermines the people's right to feel safe when they are simply enjoying a night out.

The Government is currently delivering a range of measures to tackle this vile practice, specifically targeted at raising awareness, identifying perpetrators, and gathering evidence. They include:

• Introducing a new criminal offence for spiking to help police better respond to this crime. This is being delivered through the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently at Committee Stage in the House of Commons.
• Funding the development and delivery of increased training on spiking to staff in the Night Time Economy at no cost to venues.
• Working with the regulator of the UK private security industry, the Security Industry Authority to deliver mandatory spiking training for their 352,000+ door supervisor licence holders by April 2028. This has already been delivered to more than 135,000 new licence applicants since Spring 2024.
• The funding of police spiking "intensification weeks" which have seen an enhanced focus on spiking and led to increased arrests, detections, and prevention activity taking place.
• Investing in research into the accuracy and efficacy of commercially available spiking testing kits, to help the police detect if someone has been spiked in real-time.

The Home Office works closely with the hospitality and third sectors, as well as law enforcement to ensure that we are delivering measures on spiking which make it more difficult to carry out in the first place, that venues and the emergency services are proving the best possible response, and that victims are listened to and feel supported.

A wide range of spiking training, resources, support and advice options are available across a number of organisations, many of whom are referenced on the Government's spiking web pages or within our training package.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle spiking.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Spiking is an appalling crime that undermines the people's right to feel safe when they are simply enjoying a night out.

The Government is currently delivering a range of measures to tackle this vile practice, specifically targeted at raising awareness, identifying perpetrators, and gathering evidence. They include:

• Introducing a new criminal offence for spiking to help police better respond to this crime. This is being delivered through the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently at Committee Stage in the House of Commons.
• Funding the development and delivery of increased training on spiking to staff in the Night Time Economy at no cost to venues.
• Working with the regulator of the UK private security industry, the Security Industry Authority to deliver mandatory spiking training for their 352,000+ door supervisor licence holders by April 2028. This has already been delivered to more than 135,000 new licence applicants since Spring 2024.
• The funding of police spiking "intensification weeks" which have seen an enhanced focus on spiking and led to increased arrests, detections, and prevention activity taking place.
• Investing in research into the accuracy and efficacy of commercially available spiking testing kits, to help the police detect if someone has been spiked in real-time.

The Home Office works closely with the hospitality and third sectors, as well as law enforcement to ensure that we are delivering measures on spiking which make it more difficult to carry out in the first place, that venues and the emergency services are proving the best possible response, and that victims are listened to and feel supported.

A wide range of spiking training, resources, support and advice options are available across a number of organisations, many of whom are referenced on the Government's spiking web pages or within our training package.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle anti-social behaviour in rural towns and villages.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.

​The Government’s Plan for Change, announced by the Prime Minister on 5 December, sets out how we will reduce ASB. Every police force across England and Wales will have a dedicated lead officer for ASB, working with communities, including rural towns and villages, to develop a local ASB action plan.

We are delivering on our commitment to restore and strengthen neighbourhood policing, putting 13,000 neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities – including rural communities - so residents have a named officer they can turn to when things go wrong.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced tougher powers to tackle repeat offending, including the new Respect Order to tackle the most persistent ASB offenders. Breach of a Respect Order will be a criminal offence and courts will have a wide range of sentencing options, including community orders, unlimited fines and, for the most severe cases, up to two years’ imprisonment.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending the offence of assaulting a retail worker to wholesale workers operating in business-to-business premises.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level with ever greater numbers of offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers as part of their crime. We will not stand for this. Everybody has a right to feel safe at their place of work.

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we have therefore introduced a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores, sending a strong message to offenders and would-be offenders that violence against retail workers will not be tolerated. The Bill is making its way through Parliament and committee stage started on 27 March.

As introduced, the definition of a ‘retail worker’ does not include wholesale workers operating in business-to-business premises, but it does include wholesale workers operating in premises that provide retail sales to the public. Keeping a tight definition provides legal clarity and ensures there is less ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker and impacted during their job. Workers whose roles are not included are already covered under other legislation such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which also covers more serious violence, such as actual bodily harm (ABH) and grievous bodily harm (GBH).

That said, the purpose of the parliamentary process is to scrutinise the provisions in the Bill and we will, of course, consider carefully any proposed amendments and supporting evidence.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to prevent the export of stolen vehicles by organised criminal groups.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government is determined to drive down vehicle crime and we are working with the automotive industry and police – taking a national approach – to ensure our response is as strong as it can be, including working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime.

This Government is committed to working domestically, applying the full range of disruption tactics, and with partners internationally to disrupt organised crime groups upstream.

We provided £250,000 funding in the financial year 2024-25 to help support enforcement at the ports to prevent stolen vehicles and vehicle parts being shipped abroad. This included additional staff and specialist equipment.

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced measures to ban electronic devices used to steal vehicles, empowering the police and courts to target the criminals using, manufacturing and supplying them.

Via the recently established National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership and the police-led National Vehicle Crime Working Group, we are focusing on prevention and deterrence of theft of and from vehicles; this includes training police officers on the methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles, and working with industry to address vulnerabilities in vehicles.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle mobile phone theft in (a) Beckenham and Penge constituency and (b) the UK.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

On 6 February the Home Secretary brought together law enforcement and leading tech companies to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves.

The Summit resulted in clear commitments from attendees to work in partnership, including to significantly boost the sharing of data and intelligence on mobile phone theft, in order to build a comprehensive picture of the problem and the role of organised crime networks.

To aid police investigations and recovery of stolen goods, our Crime and Policing Bill also includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property which has been electronically geolocation tracked to those premises, where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose.

Finally, we are committed to strengthening neighbourhood policing and through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, we will place thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers in neighbourhood policing roles, to provide a more visible and effective response to the activities of mobile phone thieves operating in our communities.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the antisocial use of off-road bikes in (a) Beckenham and Penge constituency and (b) the UK.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling anti-social behaviour involving vehicles is a key priority for this Government, and a central part of our Safer Streets Mission.

On 25 February 2025, the Crime and Policing Bill was introduced to Parliament. The Bill includes proposals to give the police greater powers to clamp down on all vehicles involved in anti-social behaviour, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles.

This will allow the police to quickly remove the anti-social off-road bikes which blight our communities and send a clear message that their behaviour will not be tolerated.

However, enforcement of the law in Beckenham and Penge, including in relation to tackling antisocial use of off-road bikes, will remain an operational matter for the Metropolitan Police.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether a child's rights impact assessment has been prepared for the Crime and Policing Bill.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

A number of economic impact assessments, economic notes and equality impact assessments covering measures in the Crime and Policing Bill have been published, and can be found here: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3938/publications.

The Government has also published a human rights memorandum covering the measures in the Bill.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the police to recover money obtained via theft by serious organised crime.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 contains significant powers to assist police forces in identifying, freezing and recovering criminal assets. Police forces utilise confiscation orders to deprive offenders of the proceeds of their criminal conduct. A confiscation order is imposed by the court against a convicted defendant, ordering them to pay the amount they benefited from their criminal activity.

If the defendant has benefited from the crime but has no assets, the court will record the amount of the benefit and make a nominal order. If the defendant later acquires assets, or further assets are discovered, the prosecution can apply to the court to increase the amount that a defendant must pay.

Police forces have dedicated 'Asset Confiscation Enforcement' (ACE) teams that provide a coordinated response to confiscation enforcement and tackling priority enforcement orders to ensure proceeds of crime are recovered.

Financial investigation practices and legislation are regularly reviewed. The Crime and Policing Bill includes reforms which will bolster confiscation, by giving the courts more powers to make realistic and proportionate confiscation orders, expedite the enforcement of unpaid orders, and streamline confiscation proceedings. These reforms will improve asset recovery outcomes ensuring criminals are deprived of their benefit from crime and lead to more funds being returned to victims; and more funds reinvested into law enforcement.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of financial investigation practices by police forces in cases where significant funds remain unrecovered.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 contains significant powers to assist police forces in identifying, freezing and recovering criminal assets. Police forces utilise confiscation orders to deprive offenders of the proceeds of their criminal conduct. A confiscation order is imposed by the court against a convicted defendant, ordering them to pay the amount they benefited from their criminal activity.

If the defendant has benefited from the crime but has no assets, the court will record the amount of the benefit and make a nominal order. If the defendant later acquires assets, or further assets are discovered, the prosecution can apply to the court to increase the amount that a defendant must pay.

Police forces have dedicated ‘Asset Confiscation Enforcement’ (ACE) teams that provide a coordinated response to confiscation enforcement and tackling priority enforcement orders to ensure proceeds of crime are recovered.

Financial investigation practices and legislation are regularly reviewed. The Crime and Policing Bill includes reforms which will bolster confiscation, by giving the courts more powers to make realistic and proportionate confiscation orders, expedite the enforcement of unpaid orders, and streamline confiscation proceedings. These reforms will improve asset recovery outcomes ensuring criminals are deprived of their benefit from crime and lead to more funds being returned to victims; and more funds reinvested into law enforcement.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle spiking incidents; and what support is being made available to local authorities and hospitality venues to improve prevention and victim support.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Spiking is an appalling crime that undermines the people's right to feel safe when they are simply enjoying a night out.

The Government is currently delivering a range of measures to tackle this vile practice, specifically targeted at raising awareness, identifying perpetrators, and gathering evidence. They include:

• Introducing a new criminal offence for spiking to help police better respond to this crime. This is being delivered through the Crime and Policing Bill which is currently at Committee Stage in the House of Commons.
• Funding the development and delivery of increased training on spiking to staff in the Night Time Economy at no cost to venues.
• Working with the regulator of the UK private security industry, the Security Industry Authority to deliver mandatory spiking training for their 352,000+ door supervisor licence holders by April 2028. This has already been delivered to more than 135,000 new licence applicants since Spring 2024.
• The funding of police spiking "intensification weeks" which have seen an enhanced focus on spiking and led to increased arrests, detections, and prevention activity taking place.
• Investing in research into the accuracy and efficacy of commercially available spiking testing kits, to help the police detect if someone has been spiked in real-time.

The Home Office works closely with the hospitality and third sectors, as well as law enforcement to ensure that we are delivering measures on spiking which make it more difficult to carry out in the first place, that venues and the emergency services are proving the best possible response, and that victims are listened to and feel supported.

A wide range of spiking training, resources, support and advice options are available across a number of organisations, many of whom are referenced on the Government's spiking web pages or within our training package.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle fly-tipping.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We are seeking powers in the Home Office’s Crime and Policing Bill to provide statutory enforcement guidance to help councils make full and proper use of their fly-tipping enforcement powers. These include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, vehicle seizure and prosecution action which can lead to a significant fine or even imprisonment.

We have committed to forcing fly-tippers and vandals to clean up the mess they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course.

Defra officials chair the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders, including officials from the Department for Transport, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and devolved governments, to promote good practice on preventing fly-tipping. Various practical tools are available from their webpage which can be found at: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle retail crime.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling retail crime, in partnership with police and retailers, is a top priority for this government.

In the last year of the previous government, shop theft reached a record high, and violence and abuse towards retail workers increased at an unacceptable level.

This Government will not tolerate these crimes. Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced a new offence of assaulting a retail worker and we will end the effective immunity for shop theft of goods under £200.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help tackle (a) violence and (b) abuse against retail delivery drivers.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers to do this. We will not stand for this. Everybody has a right to feel safe at their place of work.

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores, sending a strong message to offenders and would-be offenders that violence against retail workers will not be tolerated. The Bill is making its way through Parliament and had its Second Reading on 10 March.

As introduced, the definition of a 'retail worker' does not include delivery drivers. Keeping a tight definition provides legal clarity and ensures there is less ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker and impacted during their job. Workers whose roles are not included are already covered under other legislation such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which also covers more serious violence, such as actual bodily harm (ABH) and grievous bodily harm (GBH).

That said, the whole purpose of the parliamentary process is to scrutinise the provisions in the Bill and we will, of course, consider carefully any amendments and supporting evidence.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with local authorities on steps to help tackle fly-tipping.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

I have not had any recent discussions with local authorities on steps to help tackle fly-tipping but my officials work with local authorities through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to promote and disseminate good practice with regards to preventing fly-tipping. Various practical tools for local authorities are available from their webpage which is available at: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group#.

Local authorities have enforcement powers to help them tackle fly-tipping, including fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, vehicle seizure and prosecution action which can lead to a significant fine or even imprisonment. We are seeking powers in the Crime and Policing Bill to provide statutory enforcement guidance to help councils make full and proper use of these.

We have also committed to forcing fly-tippers and vandals to clean up the mess they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour and will provide further details on this commitment in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help protect young people from drink spiking.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Spiking is an appalling crime that undermines the public's right to feel safe when they are simply enjoying a night out. It can happen to anybody regardless of age, gender or sexuality. We are taking tough new action to prevent spiking incidents, ensure that victims of spiking receive enhanced protection and support when they are out and about - creating a safer night out for everyone.

The Government has introduced new legislation, as part of the Crime and Policing Bill, to strengthen the response to these appalling incidents.

We have also rolled out specialist spiking training for staff in the night-time economy to ensure they have the skills to detect possible spiking incidents, support victims who have been spiked and to support law enforcement with evidence collection.

Additionally, we are committed to supporting the Office for Students and Department for Education in implementing a new registration condition which, from August 2025, will require all higher education providers to implement policies and procedures to prevent and tackle sexual misconduct and other forms of harassment affecting their students; including all forms of spiking.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the benefits of extending protections for retail workers to retail delivery drivers in the Crime and Policing Bill.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Under the previous government, shop theft soared to record highs, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers. We won’t stand for this because everybody has a right to feel safe at their place of work.

To tackle the unacceptable surge in shoplifting and retail crime, and following years of campaigning, our Crime and Policing Bill introduces a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores, sending a strong message to offenders and would-be offenders that violence against retail workers will not be tolerated.

As introduced, the definition of a ‘retail worker’ does not include delivery drivers. Keeping a tight definition provides legal clarity and ensures there is less ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker and impacted during their job. Workers whose roles are not included are already covered under other legislation such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which also covers more serious violence, such as actual bodily harm (ABH) and grievous bodily harm (GBH).

That said, the whole purpose of the parliamentary process is to scrutinise the provisions in the Bill and we will, of course, consider carefully any amendments and supporting evidence.

Public-facing workers are also covered by the aggravating factor introduced by the Police, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Act, which ensures the courts consider the public-facing nature of a victim’s role when issuing a sentence for an offence and sends a clear message that violence and abuse towards any worker will not be tolerated. We expect those who perpetrate these damaging crimes to always face the full force of the law.

Through the passage of this Bill, we will continue to engage with a number of stakeholders across relevant sectors to ensure the law is fit for purpose to protect all public-facing workers from violence and abuse.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to help ensure effective prosecution rates (a) serious and (b) violent crime in Birmingham Edgbaston constituency.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

Reducing serious and violent crime is integral to this Government’s Safer Streets Mission and commitment to halve knife crime in a decade.

Our new Crime and Policing Bill will back our police by giving them enhanced and tougher powers to keep our streets safe, to tackle anti-social behaviour, and to crack down on knife crime.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecutes serious and violent crime robustly, providing early investigative advice on complex and serious offending to build strong cases and deliver justice for victims.

The CPS is working with cross-government partners to support the delivery of the Safer Streets Mission, and all CPS guidance and training is kept under constant review to ensure front-line prosecutors are equipped to prosecute these serious offences. Serious and violent crime encompasses many different types of crime but is more commonly associated with drug crime, knife crime, gun crime, and homicide.

In 2023-2024, the CPS prosecuted the following serious and violent offences in the West Midlands Police force area, in which the Birmingham Edgbaston constituency is located:

• 1,249 defendants for drug offences under the principal category offence for drugs (which includes possession of controlled drugs, supplying or offering to supply controlled drugs, unlawful importation of controlled drugs, and manufacturing a scheduled substance) (up from 942 in 2022-23).

• 1,645 offences for possession of a knife under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and Prevention of Crime Act 1953 (up from 1,408 in 2022-23).

• 189 offences under the Firearms Act 1968 (up from 117 in 2022-23).

• 124 defendants were prosecuted for homicide offences under the principal offence category for homicide (which includes offences of murder, attempted murder, causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable adult, child destruction, conspiring or soliciting to commit murder and causing death by dangerous or careless driving) (up from 73 in 2022-23).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has considered expanding the definition of assault of a retail worker to include retail home delivery drivers.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers to do this. We will not stand for this. Everybody has a right to feel safe at their place of work.

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores, sending a strong message to offenders and would-be offenders that violence against retail workers will not be tolerated. The Bill is making its way through Parliament and had its Second Reading on 10 March.

As introduced, the definition of a ‘retail worker’ does not include delivery drivers. Keeping a tight definition provides legal clarity and ensures there is less ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker and impacted during their job. Workers whose roles are not included are already covered under other legislation such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which also covers more serious violence, such as actual bodily harm (ABH) and grievous bodily harm (GBH).

That said, the whole purpose of the parliamentary process is to scrutinise the provisions in the Bill and we will, of course, consider carefully any amendments and supporting evidence.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on a register of convicted stalkers.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government has set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women. Stalking is an insidious crime that leaves victims living in fear every day, which is why it is essential to ensure the police and wider criminal justice system have the tools they need to protect victims and pursue perpetrators.

Those convicted of the offence of stalking involving fear, harassment, alarm or distress and sentenced to more than 12 months' imprisonment are automatically managed under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), a process which involves the police, probation and prison services working together to assess and manage the risk of specified offenders. Those convicted of that offence and sentenced to fewer than 12 months' imprisonment or convicted of section 2A stalking offence can be MAPPA managed on a discretionary basis. In the MAPPA guidance, it is stressed that every stalking perpetrator should be considered for MAPPA management. We continue to consider how these systems can be strengthened.

Those managed under MAPPA have their details stored on the ViSOR database. In addition, anyone subject to a Stalking Protection Order (SPO) is subject to notification requirements. This means if the name used by or the address of the person changes during the duration of the order, they must notify the police within a 3-day period of that change. Failure to do so is a criminal offence punishable by a maximum of 12 months' imprisonment.

To ensure the effective management of stalking perpetrators we also announced six new measures on 3 December. This includes legislating in the Crime and Policing Bill to provide for the courts to issue SPOs on conviction or acquittal and introducing national standards for stalking perpetrator interventions to help improve the efficacy and consistency of such programmes.

We are also working with a new policing centre to create models such as V100 in the MET to look at the specific offender management of the most violent perpetrators in an area.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to reduce fly-tipping in (a) Fylde constituency and (b) Lancashire.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Local authorities are often best placed to respond to incidences of fly-tipping. They have a range of enforcement powers which we encourage them to make good use of. We are seeking powers in the Crime and Policing Bill to provide enforcement guidance, which councils would legally need to have regard to.

In our manifesto we committed to forcing fly-tippers and vandals to clean up the mess that they have created. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course.

In the meantime, Defra will continue to chair the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders, such as local authorities, to promote good practice on tackling fly-tipping.  Various practical tools, including ‘how to’ guides covering key issues, are also available from their webpage at: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to provide additional financial support to local authorities to meet the cost of disposing of fly-tipped waste.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra has no current plans to provide additional financial support to local authorities to meet the cost of disposing of fly-tipped waste. We are considering how we can support local authorities to tackle fly-tipping in other ways. Indeed, we are seeking powers in the Crime and Policing Bill to provide statutory enforcement guidance to help local authorities run an effective enforcement service which deters people from dumping waste in our communities. Revenue from fixed penalty notices must also be spent on enforcement or cleaning up fly-tipping.

The majority of funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities, such as fly-tipping. Funding announced by the Chancellor at the Autumn Budget and through the 2025-26 Local Government Finance Settlement will provide over £5 billion of new funding for local services over and above local council tax.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the police in Hertfordshire on tackling the driving of (a) motorbikes and (b) mopeds on (i) pavements and (ii) other public spaces in Hertfordshire.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling anti-social behaviour involving vehicles is a priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission to take back our streets.

On 25 February 2025, the Crime and Policing Bill was introduced to Parliament. The Bill includes proposals to give the police greater powers to clamp down on all vehicles involved in anti-social behaviour, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing vehicles.

This will allow the police to quickly remove anti-social motorbikes and mopeds from pavements and other public spaces and send a clear message to antisocial drivers that their behaviour will not be tolerated.

Enforcement of the law in Hertfordshire, including in relation to illegal driving of motorbikes, mopeds, on pavements and other public spaces, is an operational matter for Hertfordshire Police.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to ban the wearing of balaclavas in public spaces.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Face coverings have a variety of legitimate purposes and as such the Government does not support a general ban on the wearing of balaclavas or other types of face coverings in public.

However, the Crime and Policing Bill contains a new criminal offence of wearing, or otherwise using, an item that conceals identity in an area designated by police due to the risk of criminal activity taking place at protests. This will enable the police to put a stop to individuals hiding behind masks to avoid conviction for criminal activity at protests.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with representatives of the mobile phone industry on (a) using technology to prevent stolen phones from being re-used and (b) the adequacy of security on banking phone apps.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

On 6 February the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London and leading tech companies to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves.

As a result of the summit, representatives from policing and tech agreed to significantly boost the sharing of data and intelligence on mobile phone theft to build a comprehensive picture of the organised criminal networks driving this problem and to instigate new work to tackle the problem.

To aid police investigations and recovery of stolen goods, our Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property which has been electronically geolocation tracked to those premises and it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose. We are also committed to strengthening neighbourhood policing and through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, there will be thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales provides national estimates of the number of victims of mobile phone theft in England and Wales; this data is not broken down to sub-national geographies.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help reduce phone theft in (a) east London and (b) Ilford South constituency.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

On 6 February the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London and leading tech companies to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves.

As a result of the summit, representatives from policing and tech agreed to significantly boost the sharing of data and intelligence on mobile phone theft to build a comprehensive picture of the organised criminal networks driving this problem and to instigate new work to tackle the problem.

To aid police investigations and recovery of stolen goods, our Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property which has been electronically geolocation tracked to those premises and it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose. We are also committed to strengthening neighbourhood policing and through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, there will be thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales provides national estimates of the number of victims of mobile phone theft in England and Wales; this data is not broken down to sub-national geographies.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle anti-social behaviour in (a) England, (b) London, and (c) Ilford South constituency.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.

That’s why we are delivering on our commitment to strengthen neighbourhood policing, putting 13,000 neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities by the end of the Parliament .

We will also equip the police to crack down on those causing havoc on our high streets and in communities. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced tougher powers to tackle repeat offending, including the new Respect Order to tackle the most persistent ASB offenders.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with (a) police forces and (b) local authorities on the (a) effectiveness of current legislation on and (b) adequacy of resources for encouraging responsible dog ownership in public areas.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police and local authorities with a range of flexible tools and powers, including Community Protection Notices, Civil Injunctions and Public Spaces Protection Orders, that they can use to tackle irresponsible dog ownership.

Appropriate use of the powers is a local decision for police, local authorities and other agencies; however, the Home Office regularly engages with police and local authority partners to discuss the effectiveness of the legislation.

Set against our Safer Streets Mission, this government is committed to reducing anti-social behaviour (ASB). We are making changes to some of the powers in the 2014 Act via the Crime and Policing Bill, introduced to Parliament last month, to ensure the powers – based on engagement with police and local authorities – are as effective as possible. These changes include increasing the upper limit for a fixed penalty notice for breaches of Community Protection Notices and Public Spaces Protection Orders from £100 to £500 to act as a stronger deterrent to ASB.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to help ensure effective prosecution rates for (a) serious and (b) violent crime cases in Beckenham and Penge constituency.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

We are taking strong action as part of our Plan for Change to tackle serious and violent crime.

Our new Crime and Policing Bill will back our police by giving them enhanced and tougher powers to keep our streets safe, to tackle anti-social behaviour, and to crack down on knife crime.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecutes serious and violent crime robustly, providing early investigative advice on complex and serious offending to build strong cases and deliver justice for victims.

The CPS is working with cross-government partners to support the delivery of the Safer Streets Mission and all CPS guidance and training is kept under constant review to ensure front-line prosecutors are equipped to prosecute these serious offences.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons will the renaming of civil injunctions as housing injunctions help housing associations tackle anti-social behaviour.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.

We will crack down on those making neighbourhoods feel unsafe and unwelcoming by bringing forward new Respect Orders, which will carry tough sanctions and penalties for persistent adult offenders. These were introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill on 25 February.

The Respect Order partially replaces the existing Civil Injunction power for the most persistent and serious adult ASB offenders, carrying with it a power of arrest and sentencing in the criminal courts for breach. It is a broad power for use in situations where behaviour had caused or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

Practitioners who use the Civil Injunction for housing-related ASB have told us the power works well for those purposes. The element of the Civil Injunction that pertains to housing related ASB will therefore be retained, and re-named the 'housing injunction' for clarity, to distinguish it from the Respect Order and the Youth Injunction. The legal test for this is behaviour causing, or capable of causing, housing-related nuisance or annoyance. If agencies consider that ASB committed in the context of neighbour disputes meets the legal test for a Respect Order (behaviour causing harassment, alarm or distress), they may determine a Respect Order is the most appropriate option instead.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to with retailers in Essex to increase (a) the provision of security personnel and (b) local police presence in stores to help deter (i) violence and (ii) abuse against staff.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers. We will not stand for this.

This Government is committed to effectively tackling retail crime. In the Crime and Policing Bill, introduced to Parliament on 25 February, we brought a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We are also repealing legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.

There were 44,048 shoplifting offences recorded by the police in the East of England region in the year ending September 2024, a 19% increase on the previous year (37,166 offences). This was a 41% increase when compared with the year ending March 2010 (31,154 offences).

There were 13,266 shoplifting offences recorded by Essex police in the year ending September 2024, a 20% increase on the previous year (11,101 offences). This was a 44% increase when compared with the year ending March 2010 (9,190 offences).

We will provide £100,000 additional funding next financial year for the National Police Chiefs' Council to give further training to police and retailers on prevention tactics, as well as investing £2 million over the next three years in the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC), which provides a resource for both police and businesses to learn, share and support each other.

I chair the Retail Crime Forum to ensure we understand the needs of all retailers and to promote collaboration between the retail sector, security providers and law enforcement.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to support retail workers in reporting incidents of abuse, threats and violence to the police.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers. We will not stand for this.

This Government is committed to effectively tackling retail crime. In the Crime and Policing Bill, introduced to Parliament on 25 February, we brought a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We are also repealing legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.

There were 44,048 shoplifting offences recorded by the police in the East of England region in the year ending September 2024, a 19% increase on the previous year (37,166 offences). This was a 41% increase when compared with the year ending March 2010 (31,154 offences).

There were 13,266 shoplifting offences recorded by Essex police in the year ending September 2024, a 20% increase on the previous year (11,101 offences). This was a 44% increase when compared with the year ending March 2010 (9,190 offences).

We will provide £100,000 additional funding next financial year for the National Police Chiefs' Council to give further training to police and retailers on prevention tactics, as well as investing £2 million over the next three years in the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC), which provides a resource for both police and businesses to learn, share and support each other.

I chair the Retail Crime Forum to ensure we understand the needs of all retailers and to promote collaboration between the retail sector, security providers and law enforcement.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make a comparative assessment of recent trends in the level of retail worker assaults reported in (a) the East of England and (b) other regions of England in the last 12 months.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers. We will not stand for this.

This Government is committed to effectively tackling retail crime. In the Crime and Policing Bill, introduced to Parliament on 25 February, we brought a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We are also repealing legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.

There were 44,048 shoplifting offences recorded by the police in the East of England region in the year ending September 2024, a 19% increase on the previous year (37,166 offences). This was a 41% increase when compared with the year ending March 2010 (31,154 offences).

There were 13,266 shoplifting offences recorded by Essex police in the year ending September 2024, a 20% increase on the previous year (11,101 offences). This was a 44% increase when compared with the year ending March 2010 (9,190 offences).

We will provide £100,000 additional funding next financial year for the National Police Chiefs' Council to give further training to police and retailers on prevention tactics, as well as investing £2 million over the next three years in the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC), which provides a resource for both police and businesses to learn, share and support each other.

I chair the Retail Crime Forum to ensure we understand the needs of all retailers and to promote collaboration between the retail sector, security providers and law enforcement.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions has she had with police forces on preventing reoffenders from committing retail crimes.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers. We will not stand for this.

This Government is committed to effectively tackling retail crime. In the Crime and Policing Bill, introduced to Parliament on 25 February, we brought a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We are also repealing legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.

There were 44,048 shoplifting offences recorded by the police in the East of England region in the year ending September 2024, a 19% increase on the previous year (37,166 offences). This was a 41% increase when compared with the year ending March 2010 (31,154 offences).

There were 13,266 shoplifting offences recorded by Essex police in the year ending September 2024, a 20% increase on the previous year (11,101 offences). This was a 44% increase when compared with the year ending March 2010 (9,190 offences).

We will provide £100,000 additional funding next financial year for the National Police Chiefs' Council to give further training to police and retailers on prevention tactics, as well as investing £2 million over the next three years in the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC), which provides a resource for both police and businesses to learn, share and support each other.

I chair the Retail Crime Forum to ensure we understand the needs of all retailers and to promote collaboration between the retail sector, security providers and law enforcement.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of recent trends in the level of retail crime in Essex.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers. We will not stand for this.

This Government is committed to effectively tackling retail crime. In the Crime and Policing Bill, introduced to Parliament on 25 February, we brought a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We are also repealing legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.

There were 44,048 shoplifting offences recorded by the police in the East of England region in the year ending September 2024, a 19% increase on the previous year (37,166 offences). This was a 41% increase when compared with the year ending March 2010 (31,154 offences).

There were 13,266 shoplifting offences recorded by Essex police in the year ending September 2024, a 20% increase on the previous year (11,101 offences). This was a 44% increase when compared with the year ending March 2010 (9,190 offences).

We will provide £100,000 additional funding next financial year for the National Police Chiefs' Council to give further training to police and retailers on prevention tactics, as well as investing £2 million over the next three years in the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC), which provides a resource for both police and businesses to learn, share and support each other.

I chair the Retail Crime Forum to ensure we understand the needs of all retailers and to promote collaboration between the retail sector, security providers and law enforcement.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent steps he has taken to support high street businesses in Ilford South constituency.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Revitalising our high streets is a priority for this government. We are delivering across government to create better conditions for high street businesses to thrive.

We have heard businesses’ concerns about the impact of anti-social behaviour in town centres, including in Ilford South. Last month, we introduced the Crime and Policing Bill, which will scrap the effective immunity for low-value shoplifting and do more to protect retail workers from assault. We are also introducing High Street Rental Auction powers for local authorities and over 100 Banking Hubs have now opened - providing essential banking services for businesses and high street users.

Last year the Business Secretary announced a new Business Growth Service which will make it easier and quicker for businesses across the UK to get the help, support and advice they need to grow and thrive. Our Small Business Strategy, to be published later this year, will set out this Government’s plan for further supporting small businesses across key areas, including on the high street.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, how many prosecutions for child-trafficking there have been in Cambridgeshire since 2010.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

This Government is committed to tackling the scourge of child trafficking. Children who are exploited by gangs for criminal purposes will now receive greater protection under the Government’s flagship Crime and Policing Bill, with the introduction of a new offence of child criminal exploitation. The Bill represents the biggest package of measures on crime and policing for decades, with new measures to cut crime and make our streets safer.

From January 2010 to September 2024, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecuted 56 cases flagged for modern slavery in the Cambridge Police Force Area.

Data is recorded by defendant, rather than victim, and therefore modern slavery flagged cases may involve adult or child victims. Of these 56 cases, 11 cases also had a case monitoring flag applied for child abuse, which covers several different offences, including child trafficking.

The CPS is working closely with law enforcement via the Modern Slavery Criminal Justice Action Group – a joint working group led by CPS National Lead for Human Trafficking and the National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime – to identify areas of improvement to promote early advice and increase referrals and prosecutions of modern slavery cases.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to support victims of stalking through the criminal justice system.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade. To do so, the Government is committed to better supporting and protecting victims and survivors of VAWG, including stalking.

The Ministry of Justice provides funding for victim and witness support services. This includes community-based domestic abuse and sexual violence services, in addition to the core funding the Ministry of Justice provides to Police and Crime Commissioners to allocate at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need. This can include services specifically for victims of stalking.

On 3 December, the Government announced a raft of new measures to tackle stalking by putting victims first and making sure they can be protected at the earliest opportunity. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, the Government is introducing provisions which, once implemented, would provide for the courts to impose Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) on conviction and acquittal of their own volition. SPOs are an essential tool that are designed to protect victims of stalking at the earliest possible opportunity and address the perpetrator’s behaviours before they become entrenched or escalate in severity.

The Government is also introducing provisions to issue: multi-agency statutory guidance on stalking to set out for the first time a robust framework for how agencies such as the police, local authorities and healthcare should define stalking and work together to pursue perpetrators and support victims; and statutory guidance to set out the process by which the police should release identifying information about online stalking perpetrators to victims so appropriate safeguards can be put in place. In addition, the Government is conducting a review of the stalking legislation to determine whether the law could be changed to support a better understanding and better identification of stalking.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing the recommendations from the Commission on Crime and Gambling Related Harms, published in April 2023 on the use of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Under the licensing objectives of the Gambling Act 2005, the Gambling Commission requires operators to prevent gambling being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime and disorder, or being used to support crime.

The Home Office has introduced legislation in the Crime and Policing Bill to make improvements to the confiscation regime, including to ensure that a confiscation order more accurately reflects the benefit from crime. The draft bill contains no specific provisions for certain sectors, including the gambling sector. However, the Home Office will engage the gambling sector on how the legislative changes will be implemented in their sector in due course.

The introduction of a statutory levy on gambling operators will, however, represent a generational change to funding arrangements and a renewed commitment to improving efforts to further understand, tackle and treat harmful gambling. As set out in our public consultation, the prevention stream could see investment directed for projects to build capacity and expertise in frontline settings to increase responsiveness to gambling harm, including criminal justice settings.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent the illegal use of off-road bikes.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.

On 25 February 2025, the Crime and Policing Bill was introduced in Parliament. The Bill includes proposals to give the police greater powers to clamp down on off-road bikes and other vehicles involved in anti-social behaviour, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing vehicles.

This will allow the police to quickly remove anti-social vehicles and send a clear message to antisocial drivers that their behaviour will not be tolerated.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to support high street businesses in Fylde.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Revitalising our high streets is a priority for this government. We are delivering across government to create better conditions for high street businesses to thrive. The new Crime and Policing Bill will give better protection for businesses and retail workers, including those in Fylde, against assault and theft. We have introduced High Street Rental Auction powers for local authorities and before Christmas we opened the 100th Banking Hub – providing essential banking services for businesses and high street users. At the Budget the Chancellor announced plans to work with industry to design a new business rates system.

Our Small Business Strategy, to be published later this year, will set out this Government’s plan for further supporting small businesses across key areas, including on the high street.

Within Fylde constituency, Kirkham is benefitting from £6.29m from the Future High Street Fund and £3.27m from High Street Heritage Action Zone funding. This will help Kirkham become a more vibrant destination through town centre regeneration, bringing benefits to businesses and residents in Fylde.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they propose to take to stop illegal gambling on the black market (1) domestically, and (2) from offshore sites.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

We are committed to working closely with the Gambling Commission to ensure that illegal gambling, in all its forms, is addressed. The Gambling Commission assesses information gathered from multiple sources and works closely with partner agencies to prevent access to illegal websites by consumers in Great Britain, regardless of where the website itself is based.

In the past year, the Commission has significantly increased its disruption activity and has a renewed focus on finding innovative ways to tackle the illegal market. The Crime and Policing Bill, introduced in Parliament on 25 February 2025, will also grant the Gambling Commission with new powers to more quickly and effectively take down illegal gambling websites.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle the international trading of stolen vehicles.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Vehicle theft is a serious crime that has a deeply damaging impact on vehicle owners, manufacturers and the insurance industry.

A network of vehicle crime leads has been established in every police force in England and Wales, ensuring forces share information and are better able to respond. The Crime and Policing Bill will ban the electronic devices used to steal vehicles, empowering the police and courts to target the criminals using, manufacturing, and supplying them.

Stolen vehicles often end up being sent overseas so we have provided £250,000 this financial year to provide additional staff and specialist equipment to help enforcement at ports and prevent stolen vehicles and vehicle parts being shipped abroad. We are also engaging international partners to explore what more can be done to disrupt the international marketplace for stolen vehicles.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

We are committed to going further than ever before to deliver a cross-government transformative approach to tackling violence against women and girls, which will be underpinned by a new VAWG strategy later this year.

We are investing £13.1 million pounds next financial year (25/26) to set up a new National Policing Centre for VAWG and Public Protection to transform the police response to these devastating crimes. Alongside that, we have begun the roll-out of domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms as part of Raneem’s Law, and launched new Domestic Abuse Protection Orders in selected police forces and courts.

We recently launched a package of six new measures to tackle stalking, including plans to give stalking victims the right to know the identity of online stalkers, following the formidable campaigning of Nicola Thorp.

Our Crime and Policing Bill will introduce a new criminal offence of spiking, new laws to tackle intimate image abuse, and stronger arrangements for the management of sex offenders.

These are just some of the crucial first steps we are taking as part of our unprecedented mission to halve VAWG in a decade.

Found: teachers’ pay and conditions “will not 131 For more detail see House of Commons Library, ‘Crime and Policing Bill

Found: teachers’ pay and conditions “will not 131 For more detail see House of Commons Library, ‘Crime and Policing Bill

Found: include responding directly to several of IICSA’s recommendations: • Introducing, in the Crime and Policing Bill

Found: Crime and Policing Bill 2025: Keeling Schedules

Found: Crime and Policing Bill 2025: Keeling Schedules

Found: the Prime Minister, Home Secretary and I have all supported for more than a decade In the Crime and Policing Bill

Found: The new measures, which will be included as an amendment in the government’s landmark Crime and Policing Bill

Found: So tonight I can announce that we will legislate in the Crime and Policing Bill currently going through

Found: Crime and policing Bill: Government amendments for Committee

Found: Crime and policing Bill: Government amendments for Committee

Found: face 6 months in prison, and this will later increase to 2 years under new measures in the Crime and Policing Bill

Found: The new funding follows the government’s flagship Crime and Policing Bill, which gives police and local

Found: Through the Crime and Policing Bill, new powers will be given to police so they can better tackle crimes

Found: Crime and Policing Bill - New offences to criminalise the possession, importing, making, adaptation,

Found: Crime and Policing Bill - New offences to criminalise the possession, importing, making, adaptation,

Found: Crime and Policing Bill - Mandatory Reporting Duty for Child Sexual Abuse: RPC Opinion (red-rated)

Found: Crime and Policing Bill - Mandatory Reporting Duty for Child Sexual Abuse: RPC Opinion (red-rated)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will legislate to prevent registered sex offenders from changing their name.

Answered by Constance, Angela - Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs

The Scottish Government takes the safety of the public very seriously. Sex offender notification requirements apply to an individual, irrespective of what name they use. Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements record any aliases in their documentation. The current position in legislation is that sex offenders must inform the police of a name change within three days and failure to notify such a change can result in a prison sentence.

We are aware that the Crime and Policing Bill, recently introduced to the UK Parliament, contains legislative change in this area. We are exploring the possibility of extending the provisions in the Crime and Policing Bill to Scotland. Any such amendment would be the subject of the legislative consent process.

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce a child and young person exploitation offence.

Answered by Constance, Angela - Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs

The Scottish Government is currently awaiting the UK Government’s proposals on introducing new child criminal exploitation (CCE) offence as part of the upcoming Crime and Policing Bill in England and Wales.

My officials are in regular contact with Home Office officials on the progress of these plans, and when the finalised proposals are made available, we will be in the position to assess the potential to extend this measure to Scotland through the Legislative Consent process.

Found: advocate for a statutory definition of Child Criminal Exploitation as part of its forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill

Found: advocate for a statutory definition of Child Criminal Exploitation as part of its forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill

Found: advocate for a statutory definition of Child Criminal Exploitation as part of its forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill

Found: . • Work with UK Government to ensure the provisions in the Crime and Policing Bill include criminalising

Found: Home Office Guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anti-social- behaviour-crime-and-policing-bill-anti-social-behaviour

Found: Government to accept 55 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anti-social-behaviour-crime-and-policing-bill-anti

Found: fireworks sold for public 59 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anti-social-behaviour-crime-and-policing-bill-anti

Found: www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/12 49 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anti-social-behaviour-crime-and-policing-bill-anti

Found: professionals should be aware of https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anti- social-behaviour-crime-and-policing-bill-anti-social

Found: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anti- social-behaviour-crime-and-policing-bill-anti-social-behaviour

Found: This was pending the introduction of the Home Office Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill 2014

Found: - Response to Legislative Consent Motion vote on provisions in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill

Found: work with UK Government Ministers to bring forward provisions in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill

Found: Written Statement - Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill (14 October 2013)

Found: Written Statement - Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill (14 October 2013)

Found: Work has also been undertaken on the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill and the forthcoming

Found: Parliament on 8 May 2013, included a commitment to bring forward a Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill

Found: Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill ...................................... 7 3.3.