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Found: from Lord Carlile of Berriew to Lord Hanson of Flint, Minister of State, Home Office re: The Crime and Policing Bill

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Found: We have seen some in the Crime and Policing Bill, with the specific offence of assaulting a retail worker

Found: A new offence of Child Criminal Exploitation has been introduced in the Crime and Policing Bill.

Found: Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, dated 28 February 2025 Introduction of the Crime and Policing Bill

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Organisers and facilitators of major sporting and cultural events are invited to give evidence to a new inquiry from MPs examining the challenges faced by the industry and how the sector can tap into new opportunities for growth and collaboration.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the Scottish Government on the effectiveness of the (a) Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 and (b) Protecting Vulnerable Groups scheme; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of updating the Disclosure and Barring Service check regime.

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

The disclosure and barring regime in Scotland is devolved and the UK Government engages regularly with the Scottish Government to ensure that the regimes work effectively together to keep the public safe.

We keep the disclosure and barring regime in England and Wales under constant review to ensure that it continues to strike an appropriate balance between keeping the public safe and enabling ex-offenders to move on with their lives.

On 9 April 2025, the Government published an update on its work to tackle child sexual abuse, available on GOV.UK: Tackling Child Sexual Abuse.

• By the end of 2025, we will introduce secondary legislation to create the ability for self-employed individuals, working in sensitive roles with children and vulnerable adults, to access higher-level Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.
• We have introduced primary legislation to remove the supervision exemption in the Crime and Policing Bill.
• By 2026, working with ACRO Criminal Record Office & DBS, we will enable those making decisions overseas to have access to DBS barred list data.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle antisocial behaviour from (a) illegally modified and (b) off-road bikes in the Northumbria Police area.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

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

The Crime and Policing Bill will give police greater powers to clamp down on anti-social behaviour involving vehicles of all types, including off-road and illegally modified e-bikes, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles. This will allow police to put an immediate stop to offending.

The Government has recently consulted on proposals to allow the police to dispose of seized vehicles which have been used anti-socially more quickly. The consultation closed on 8 July and the Government response will be published in due course.

These combined measures will help tackle the scourge of vehicles ridden anti-socially and will send a clear message to would-be offenders and local communities that this behaviour will not be tolerated.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of seasonal visitor surges on levels of (a) shop theft and (b) antisocial behaviour in rural and coastal constituencies.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government recognises the great harm and misery that anti-social behaviour (ASB) and shop theft causes our communities, including during seasonal visitor peaks in coastal and rural areas.That is why tackling anti-social behaviour and shop theft are top priorities for this Government, and at the heart of our Safer Streets Mission.

We are providing over £7 million over the next three years to support the police tackle retail crime. We are supporting the implementation of the new ‘Tackling Retail Crime Together’ strategy, published by policing, retail sector representatives and industry as part of collective efforts to combat shop theft.

As part of our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, every police force in England and Wales now has a dedicated lead officer for ASB, who will work with communities to develop a local ASB action plan.

And we are legislating through the Crime and Policing Bill to strengthen powers available to the police to tackle ASB and shop theft.​ This includes new Respect Orders to tackle persistent adult ASB offenders, powers for the police to seize nuisance off-road bikes, repealing the legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence and introducing a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to prevent the use of off-road bikes on common land without lawful authority.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

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

The Crime and Policing Bill will give police greater powers to clamp down on anti-social behaviour involving vehicles, including off-road bikes on common land without lawful authority, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles. This will allow police to put an immediate stop to offending.

The Government has recently consulted on proposals to allow the police to dispose of seized vehicles which have been used anti-socially more quickly. The consultation closed on 8 July and the Government response will be published in due course.

These combined measures will help tackle the scourge of vehicles ridden anti-socially and will send a clear message to would-be offenders and local communities that this behaviour will not be tolerated.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to prevent the illegal use of off-road bikes.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

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

The Crime and Policing Bill will give police greater powers to clamp down on anti-social behaviour involving vehicles, including off-road bikes on common land without lawful authority, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles. This will allow police to put an immediate stop to offending.

The Government has recently consulted on proposals to allow the police to dispose of seized vehicles which have been used anti-socially more quickly. The consultation closed on 8 July and the Government response will be published in due course.

These combined measures will help tackle the scourge of vehicles ridden anti-socially and will send a clear message to would-be offenders and local communities that this behaviour will not be tolerated.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his planned timetable is for repealing the Vagrancy Act 1824.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

It is unacceptable that the antiquated Vagrancy Act 1824 remains on our statute book. The legislation does nothing to target the root causes of homelessness. That is why we are committed to repealing this punitive legislation.

We will commence the repeal once replacement measures in the Crime and Policing Bill come into force next year.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the decriminalisation of abortion upon the rights and responsibilities of medical professionals, including those with conscientious objections to participation in abortion procedures.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The House of Commons has voted to add a clause to the Crime and Policing Bill which disapplies the criminal offences related to abortion from women in relation to their own pregnancy. These offences would still apply to medical professionals and third parties who do not abide by the rules set out in the Abortion Act 1967.

Under section 4(1) of the Abortion Act 1967, medical professionals have the right to refuse to participate in terminations of pregnancy, other than where the termination is necessary to save the life of, or prevent grave injury to, the pregnant woman. This right is limited to refusal to participate in the procedure or procedures themselves and not to pre- or post-treatment care, advice, or management.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential risks to vulnerable women, including those who may be subject to coercion or abuse, if abortion were to be decriminalised; and what safeguarding measures they plan to put in place to protect them.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

No assessment has been made. It is for Parliament to decide the circumstances under which abortions should take place. As with other matters of conscience, abortion is an issue on which the Government adopts a neutral stance and allows members of Parliament to vote according to their moral, ethical, or religious beliefs.

The House of Commons has voted to add a clause to the Crime and Policing Bill which disapplies the criminal offences related to abortion from women in relation to their own pregnancy. These offences would still apply to medical professionals and third parties who do not abide by the rules set out in the Abortion Act 1967.

The safeguarding of children, young people, and adults who are at risk is a fundamental obligation for everyone who works in the National Health Service and its partner agencies. Following the decriminalisation of abortion for pregnant women acting in relation to their own pregnancy, the Department will consider whether sufficient safeguards are already in place or whether additional guidance is needed.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the police forces about the potential dangers of food couriers riding electric bicycles on pavements.

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

Ministers and officials meet representatives of police forces regularly to discuss a wide range of topics.

The Highway Code details the legal responsibilities of cyclists. In addition to the main offences of dangerous and careless cycling there are a variety of specific offences including cycling on the pavement for which police officers and Police Community Support Officers can issue £50 fixed penalty notice.

In addition, the Government is giving the police greater powers through the Crime and Policing Bill to clamp down on vehicles, including electric bicycles, used anti-socially and illegally with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing them.

The Government has also recently consulted on proposals to allow the police to dispose of seized vehicles which have been used anti-socially and illegally more quickly. The consultation closed on 8 July and the Government response will be published in due course.

These combined measures will help tackle the scourge of vehicles ridden anti-socially and illegally and send a clear message to would-be offenders and local communities that this behaviour will not be tolerated.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support the enforcement of their proposed "respect orders" by police forces in England and Wales.

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

It is crucial that police have the powers they need to tackle anti-social behaviour.

New Respect Orders, introduced through the Crime and Policing Bill, will give police stronger powers to enforce against the most persistent adult offenders.

Respect Orders will be behavioural orders, issued by the civil courts. They will enable courts to ban offenders from engaging in harmful anti-social behaviours and can also require perpetrators to take action to address the root cause of their behaviour.

Failure to comply with a Respect Order will be a criminal offence, enforceable by arrest and tried in the criminal court. Penalty for breach will include community sentences, unlimited fines, and prison time for the most serious breaches.

Updated statutory guidance will be provided to forces on Respect Orders, to ensure they are being used as effectively as possible.

We are also delivering on our commitment to restore and strengthen neighbourhood policing, ensuring thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers are out patrolling in our town centres and communities to make our streets safer.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of cases of child sexual abuse perpetrated by a family member, and what steps they are taking to ensure such cases are reported and justice is delivered.

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

We know that most abuse is perpetrated by someone known to the victim. The Office for National Statistics published data from its Crime Survey for England and Wales in relation to child sexual abuse. The survey found that most abuse was perpetrated by someone known to the victim. Just over a third (35%) reported abuse by a family member taken as a: mother, father, step-parent, carer/guardian, or other family member.

Furthermore, 37% of those who had been a victim of contact sexual abuse said it had happened in their own home, and a further 40% in someone else’s home. This broadly aligns with data from IICSA’s Truth Project where 42% of victims and survivors who shared their experience said the abuse happened in the family home.

The Government is taking swift, decisive action to address all form of child sexual abuse and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice. As part of this, we recognise the need to improve how safeguarding agencies protect and support children at risk of sexual abuse within the family home.

We have committed to implementing the seven recommendations from the national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s review into child sexual abuse in the family environment. In doing so, we will:

• Implement new standards for child and family social work practice, placing greater emphasis on child protection, through delivering a national rollout of a new social work induction programme for all those entering the profession.
• Develop new standards and training for advanced child protection social work to build expertise and help embed lead child protection practitioner roles.
• Develop specialist child sexual abuse and exploitation training for social workers and other key members of the children’s services workforce, including family help workers.
• Commission two Practice Guides for leaders and practitioners on how to prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation and how to support victims.
• Legislate for multi-agency child protection teams (MACPTs) to strengthen multi- agency working and decision making.
• Make any necessary amendments to Working Together 2023 at its next update, which includes clear guidance on multi-agency child protection expectations and standards, as well as on section 47 enquiries and other child protection processes.
• Deliver the national roll out of family help and child protection reforms from April 2025, supported by guidance which includes expectations around multi- agency leadership, practice and information, including in the child protection system.
• Improve multi-agency information sharing, including through introducing provision for a single unique identifier for children and information sharing duty that provides a clear legal basis to share information for the purposes of safeguarding.
• Work with NHS England and public health commissioners to audit pathways and services for child sexual abuse victims within relevant health settings.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill we are introducing a mandatory duty to report child sexual abuse. It will require anyone taking part in relevant activity with children in England (such as teachers, healthcare professionals and sports coaches) to report to the authorities if they are made aware that a child is being sexually abused.

The new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection launched in April 2025 will improve the police response to child protection and violence against women and girls.

We have committed further funding to the independent Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse to improve the ability of professionals in policing, health, local authorities, and multi-agency partnerships, to identify and respond effectively to all forms of child sexual abuse through the provision of evidence-based training and practice resources.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker would apply to workers in community pharmacies.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, this Government has introduced a new specific standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to help tackle the epidemic of shop theft and violence towards shop workers that we have seen in recent years and protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

Those working in pharmacies, where they are not otherwise captured by the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act will be covered by the new offence.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of providing funding to the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service to support the expansion of its operations in areas with high levels of vehicle crime.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The National Vehicle Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) is a national policing unit funded by industry, including finance and leasing companies, insurers and hauliers, to provide dedicated specialist intelligence and enforcement. NAVICS undertakes enforcement action at ports which are intelligence-led operations to tackle vehicle crime.

Whilst the Government does not fund NaVCIS, we provided £250,000 last year to other law enforcement partners to help support enforcement at the ports to prevent stolen vehicles and vehicle parts being shipped abroad, including additional staff and specialist equipment.

This Government is determined to drive down vehicle crime. We are working with the automotive industry and police, including the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on the issue, to ensure the strongest response possible. The former Policing Minister recently met the previous NPCC vehicle crime lead, ACC Jenny Sims, as well as other law enforcement representatives and representatives from industry, to discuss how we work together to tackle these damaging crimes.

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.

In the Crime and Policing Bill we have banned electronic devices used to steal vehicles, empowering the police and courts to target the criminals using, manufacturing, importing and supplying them.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of UK-based live-streaming of child sexual abuse.

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

The Government is unequivocal in its commitment to protecting children from all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse. This includes work to combat livestreamed abuse and ensuring that offenders cannot use technology to harm children with impunity.

The UK has been reported as the third highest consumer of livestreaming and as such we are investing heavily into addressing this heinous crime. The UK is leading the way in supporting the building operational capabilities with other international law enforcement agencies to work together to pursue offenders and safeguard children. The NCA is leading a number of initiatives with industry and engagement with the financial sector to specifically prevent and detect livestreaming offending. This includes work to build on the UK-supported report by the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) ‘Detecting, Disrupting and Investigating Online Child Sexual Exploitation’.

We are also supporting our law enforcement partners as they continue to work tirelessly to prevent consumption. The Home Office invests in a network of Undercover Online Officers (UCOLs) in Regional Organised Crime Units, who deploy online to identify and pursue offenders seeking to sexually exploit children, including those who consume and facilitate livestreaming of child sexual abuse. Home Office funding also supports the National Crime Agency to use its unique capabilities to disrupt high harm offenders, including those based overseas who seek to livestream abuse.

In addition to pursuing offenders, we are taking legislative action to protect children online. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we will introduce a brand-new criminal offence criminalising AI Models which have been designed or adapted to produce child sexual abuse imagery as well as criminalising those who are administrators or moderators of child sexual abuse sites.

The Online Safety Act introduces world-leading protections for children. It places robust duties on tech companies to prevent and swiftly remove illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, and to take proactive steps to protect children from harm. Ofcom, as the regulator, will have strong enforcement powers to ensure compliance.

We also recognise the importance of device-level protections in preventing livestreaming abuse and we support the development and deployment of safety technologies that can help prevent abuse before it happens. This includes exploring the role of on-device tools that can detect and disrupt livestreamed abuse and other image-based harms, while respecting users’ privacy and maintaining end-to-end encryption.

The Government continues to work closely with law enforcement, industry, and child protection experts to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of efforts to tackle online child sexual abuse.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing (a) device-based and (b) operating system-based safeguards to prevent live-streamed child sexual abuse.

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

The Government is unequivocal in its commitment to protecting children from all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse. This includes work to combat livestreamed abuse and ensuring that offenders cannot use technology to harm children with impunity.

The UK has been reported as the third highest consumer of livestreaming and as such we are investing heavily into addressing this heinous crime. The UK is leading the way in supporting the building operational capabilities with other international law enforcement agencies to work together to pursue offenders and safeguard children. The NCA is leading a number of initiatives with industry and engagement with the financial sector to specifically prevent and detect livestreaming offending. This includes work to build on the UK-supported report by the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) ‘Detecting, Disrupting and Investigating Online Child Sexual Exploitation’.

We are also supporting our law enforcement partners as they continue to work tirelessly to prevent consumption. The Home Office invests in a network of Undercover Online Officers (UCOLs) in Regional Organised Crime Units, who deploy online to identify and pursue offenders seeking to sexually exploit children, including those who consume and facilitate livestreaming of child sexual abuse. Home Office funding also supports the National Crime Agency to use its unique capabilities to disrupt high harm offenders, including those based overseas who seek to livestream abuse.

In addition to pursuing offenders, we are taking legislative action to protect children online. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we will introduce a brand-new criminal offence criminalising AI Models which have been designed or adapted to produce child sexual abuse imagery as well as criminalising those who are administrators or moderators of child sexual abuse sites.

The Online Safety Act introduces world-leading protections for children. It places robust duties on tech companies to prevent and swiftly remove illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, and to take proactive steps to protect children from harm. Ofcom, as the regulator, will have strong enforcement powers to ensure compliance.

We also recognise the importance of device-level protections in preventing livestreaming abuse and we support the development and deployment of safety technologies that can help prevent abuse before it happens. This includes exploring the role of on-device tools that can detect and disrupt livestreamed abuse and other image-based harms, while respecting users’ privacy and maintaining end-to-end encryption.

The Government continues to work closely with law enforcement, industry, and child protection experts to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of efforts to tackle online child sexual abuse.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to (a) prevent and (b) limit UK-based offenders from (i) creating demand for, (ii) accessing and (iii) viewing live-streamed child sexual abuse.

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

The Government is unequivocal in its commitment to protecting children from all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse. This includes work to combat livestreamed abuse and ensuring that offenders cannot use technology to harm children with impunity.

The UK has been reported as the third highest consumer of livestreaming and as such we are investing heavily into addressing this heinous crime. The UK is leading the way in supporting the building operational capabilities with other international law enforcement agencies to work together to pursue offenders and safeguard children. The NCA is leading a number of initiatives with industry and engagement with the financial sector to specifically prevent and detect livestreaming offending. This includes work to build on the UK-supported report by the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) ‘Detecting, Disrupting and Investigating Online Child Sexual Exploitation’.

We are also supporting our law enforcement partners as they continue to work tirelessly to prevent consumption. The Home Office invests in a network of Undercover Online Officers (UCOLs) in Regional Organised Crime Units, who deploy online to identify and pursue offenders seeking to sexually exploit children, including those who consume and facilitate livestreaming of child sexual abuse. Home Office funding also supports the National Crime Agency to use its unique capabilities to disrupt high harm offenders, including those based overseas who seek to livestream abuse.

In addition to pursuing offenders, we are taking legislative action to protect children online. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we will introduce a brand-new criminal offence criminalising AI Models which have been designed or adapted to produce child sexual abuse imagery as well as criminalising those who are administrators or moderators of child sexual abuse sites.

The Online Safety Act introduces world-leading protections for children. It places robust duties on tech companies to prevent and swiftly remove illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, and to take proactive steps to protect children from harm. Ofcom, as the regulator, will have strong enforcement powers to ensure compliance.

We also recognise the importance of device-level protections in preventing livestreaming abuse and we support the development and deployment of safety technologies that can help prevent abuse before it happens. This includes exploring the role of on-device tools that can detect and disrupt livestreamed abuse and other image-based harms, while respecting users’ privacy and maintaining end-to-end encryption.

The Government continues to work closely with law enforcement, industry, and child protection experts to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of efforts to tackle online child sexual abuse.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the prosecution of people who use AI to create deepfake photos of girls.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The Government takes the use of artificial intelligence to generate child sexual abuse material (CSAM) extremely seriously. Offences involving AI-generated CSAM – including so-called ‘deepfakes’ – are an increasing concern for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) due to the realism of such images and the speed and scale at which they can be produced.

Creating, possessing, or distributing AI-generated CSAM is already a criminal offence. The Online Safety Act expands upon this by placing a duty on online platforms to proactively identify and remove this type of content. The CPS will prosecute individuals who commit these offences whenever the legal test is met.

The Attorney General’s Office and CPS are working closely with criminal justice partners to identify and address any legislative gaps. The Crime and Policing Bill will introduce a new offence to criminalise AI models that have been optimised to create CSAM. It will also expand existing legislation on ‘paedophile manuals’ to enable the prosecution of individuals who instruct others on how to use AI tools to generate CSAM.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent the resale of stolen mobile phones in (a) Bedfordshire, (b) Cambridgeshire and (c) Suffolk.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Secretary has been clear that tackling mobile phone theft and the resale of stolen devices is a priority.

Earlier this year the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, leading tech companies and others 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 work to disrupt the resale of stolen phones, exploring technological solutions to make devices harder to re-register or resell, and working with the police to better understand the routes used to sell stolen phones.

The Home Office is driving this work with the police and other stakeholders to tackle this criminality.

In addition, the Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property that has been electronically geo-location tracked to those premises, where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose. This power will support efforts to recover stolen phones before they can be resold.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of reported incidents of (a) assault and (b) abuse against lone retail workers in each of the last three years.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes data on the number of incidents of violent crime and public order offences (including assaults and verbal abuse) recorded by the police in England and Wales. The latest data can be found here:

Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK

It is not currently possible to identify which of these incidents were committed against retail workers during the course of their work, as these incidents fall under categories of crime, such as assault.

In the Crime and Policing Bill, we are bringing forward a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

The offence will be allocated a specific Home Office Crime Recording Rule, which will help provide a more complete picture of the problem, in turn informing future policy decisions and enabling the police to respond accordingly.

The Home Office has also published estimates from the Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) on the proportion of retail premises which experienced at least one incident of assault or threat. This data can be found here, and includes those premises which did not report the incident to the police: Crime against businesses statistics - GOV.UK

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to section 8 of the Crime and Policing Bill, what guidance will be given to police forces on the circumstances in which a vehicle should be seized without warning.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

We are amending the Police Reform Act 2002 through the Crime and Policing Bill to allow the police to seize vehicles which are used in an anti-social manner without having to first give a warning to the offender, as is currently required in some circumstances.

We will work with the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council to assess what guidance is required to forces on the implementation of these changes.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce delays in bringing historical child sexual violence cases to trial.

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

This Government is focused on delivering meaningful change for victims of child sexual violence. In April, we published our plan for responding to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s (IICSA) recommendations.

In line with recommendations from IICSA, the Government has announced the removal of the three-year limitation period for personal injury claims brought by victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in respect of their abuse. This reform also provides express protection for the right to a fair trial, with the burden falling on defendants to show that a fair trial is not possible. This change is intended to reduce the trauma survivors face when seeking justice and ensure that more cases can proceed without unnecessary procedural barriers. This reform is part of the Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently being considered in Parliament.

We are also committed to tackling the outstanding caseload to improve timeliness - we have already doubled magistrates’ sentencing powers, so that Crown Courts can focus on the most serious cases; and this year we have funded a record-high allocation of 110,000 Crown Court sitting days. We also commissioned Sir Brian Leveson to propose bold and ambitious measures to deliver swifter justice for victims, including for victims of sexual violence. We will respond to the recommendations in the Independent Review of Criminal Courts in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase arrests relating to mobile phone theft.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

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 service to the public, with each neighbourhood having a named, contactable officer dealing with local issues, including the theft of mobile phones and other personal items.

On 6 February the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, leading tech companies and others 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 to build a comprehensive picture of the problem, better understand the role of organised crime networks and identify the most effective means of tackling these crimes.

In addition, the Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property that has been electronically geo-location tracked to those premises, where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose. This will significantly enhance the ability of the police to act swiftly and effectively.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to regulate the use of privately owned e-scooters involved in anti-social behaviour.

Answered by Sarah Jones - 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. Our Crime and Policing Bill will give the police greater powers to clamp down on all vehicles, including e-scooters, involved in anti-social behaviour, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles.

On 28 May, the Government launched a six-week consultation on proposals to allow the police to more quickly dispose of seized vehicles such as e-scooters which have been used anti-socially. The consultation closed on 8 July and the Government response will be published in due course. Combined, these proposals will help tackle the scourge of vehicles ridden anti-socially by sending a clear message to would be offenders and local communities that this behaviour will not be tolerated.

There are various offences relating to e-scooter use that the police can enforce with a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN). Riding an e-scooter on the pavement can result in a FPN of £50.

The Government has made no decisions on micromobility regulation, however, resolving the longstanding problems and missed opportunities of micromobility, including e-scooters, is a priority for the Government.

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 in care from (a) grooming gangs, (b) exploitation and (c) other forms of criminal activity.

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

The Government is committed to protecting children and young people from all forms of abuse and exploitation, including child sexual exploitation and ‘grooming gangs’, alongside other forms of exploitation and criminal activity.

In June 2025, the Government accepted all the recommendations made in Baroness Louise Casey’s Independent National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. I refer the Rt Hon Member to the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girl’s statement made to the House on 2 September, which sets out an update on the Government’s work to establish a new national inquiry and national police operation to strengthen understanding and responses to group-based offending, including grooming gangs.

Since 2019, the Home Office has funded The Children’s Society to deliver the nationwide Prevention Programme that works to raise awareness of child exploitation to professionals working within the private, statutory and third sectors, as well as the public. The programme upskills staff, including within social care, to better respond to, disrupt and prevent all forms of child exploitation.

We are committed to tackling child criminal exploitation and have introduced a new offence of child criminal exploitation in the Crime and Policing Bill and developed new civil preventative orders to disrupt and prevent child criminal exploitation and pursue the gangs who are luring young people into violence and crime. These will, alongside other additions in the bill, work to tackle the interconnected and exploitative practices often used by criminal gangs, especially in county lines.

An important protective factor for children living in residential children’s homes is ensuring that staff are trained, have the right skills, are supported to provide good quality care and can be challenged where they are not doing so. The Government has committed to improve qualifications, standards, and access to training for staff working in residential children’s homes to ensure they are able to safeguard and protect the children in their care.

Furthermore, the Government is going further to better protect children, including children in care or leaving care, including through the introduction of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which is establishing multi-agency child protection teams and improving information sharing, including through a single unique identifier.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress her Department has made in tackling knife crime.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Halving knife crime is a central mission for this Government and since day one we have acted with urgency to turn the tide on this truly devastating crime. We have seen early signs of progress, with overall knife crime down for the first time in four years, but we need to supercharge these efforts.

To date, we banned zombie knives in September 2024 and introduced a ban on ninja swords from 1 August 2025 - it is now illegal to sell or own these weapons. We have also implemented, “Ronan’s Law”, a range of measures which will include stricter rules for online sellers of knives.

We are increasing the penalties for illegal sales of knives, creating a new offence of possessing a knife with the intention to commit unlawful violence and are giving the police a new power to seize knives when they believe they are likely to be used in connection with unlawful violence.

The Home Secretary and Policing Minister launched a Knife-Enabled Robbery (KER) Taskforce in October 2024 in the highest volume police force areas. The Taskforce met its ambition to halt the rise of KER in Taskforce areas (as a collective) within 6 months.

The Prime Minister launched the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime in September 2024, which brings together campaign groups, bereaved families, people who have been impacted by knife crime and community leaders, united in their mission to save lives, to help us drive forward our plans and to hold us to account on progress.

Over £66 million is available to all 43 police force areas to fund the 'Hotspot Action' programme in 2025/26.  This programme is a combination of increased high visibility foot patrols and funding of problem-oriented policing (POP) tactics.

Tackling county lines is key to delivering our pledge to halve knife crime within the decade. That is why we are investing more than £42m this financial year in the County Lines Programme to target violent and exploitative drug dealing gangs driving knife crime and violence in communities. Since July 2024 the County Lines Programme has resulted in more than 1,200 deal lines closed, 2,000 arrests, 2,100 safeguarding referrals and provided specialist support to over 460 children and young people to enable them to exit their involvement in violence and county lines.

We have introduced a new offence of child criminal exploitation in the Crime and Policing Bill to go after the gangs who are luring young people into violence and crime. As part of this legislation we are also delivering new civil preventative orders which will disrupt and prevent child criminal exploitation from occurring or re-occurring. We are also going further in our response to wider criminal exploitation, introducing a new offence of ‘cuckooing’ and an offence to tackle coerced internal concealment. These three new offences will all work to tackle the interconnected and exploitative practices often used by criminal gangs, especially in county lines.

Through the Young Futures Programme, the Government will introduce Prevention Partnerships across the country, to intervene earlier and ensure that children and young people vulnerable to being drawn into crime and violence are identified and offered support in a more systematic way.

As we design the Young Futures Programme, we will ensure that it learns from and builds on the work of the Violence Reduction Units (VRUs). VRUs bring together partners, including from the voluntary and community sector, to understand and tackle the drivers of serious violence in their area.

A further £14.3m in grant funding has been made available across all 43 local policing body areas to deliver the Serious Violence Duty.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of clause 8 of the Crime and Policing Bill on the number of police interceptions of (a) pedal bikes and (b) e-bikes whose riders are committing antisocial behaviour.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling anti-social behaviour and the harm it causes is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. Clause 8 of the Crime and Policing Bill removes the requirement for police to issue a warning before seizing a vehicle which is being used anti-socially, including illegally modified e-bikes, under section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002. This will allow police to put an immediate stop to offending.

The Government has recently consulted on proposals to allow the police to more quickly dispose of seized vehicles, such as illegally modified e-bikes, which have been used anti-socially. The consultation closed on 8 July and the Government response will be published in due course.

These combined measures will strengthen the law and send a clear message that antisocial behaviour involving vehicles will not be tolerated.

Section 59 seizure powers apply to motor vehicles only.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department is taking steps with Dorset Council to tackle the use of illegal e-bikes in West Dorset constituency.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

E-bikes can only be legally used on the roads where they comply in full with the Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle Regulations 1983.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has a market surveillance unit and has the powers to act against retailers selling non-compliant e-bikes across the country, including in West Dorset.

Where such e-bikes are used on the roads, the police have powers to seize them. The powers for the police to act are being strengthened in the Crime and Policing Bill, so that the police will no longer be required to provide a warning before seizing any vehicle, including an e-bike, where it is being used anti-socially.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the effective prosecution of people who commit spiking.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

Administering a substance to a person without their consent – commonly known as ‘spiking’ – is a serious criminal offence. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is committed to prosecuting spiking cases effectively where they are referred to us by the police. We have seen a 40% increase in the number of spiking related offences the CPS have charged between 2022/23 to 2024/25.

The CPS has undertaken work to improve prosecutions for violence against women and girls (VAWG), which can include spiking. Through initiatives such as the National Operating Model for Adult Rape and the Domestic Abuse Joint Justice Plan with policing, the CPS is embedding a suspect-focused approach to VAWG offending. This means that prosecutors examine the behaviour and actions of the suspect before, during, and after the alleged assault. Spiking may form part of a wider pattern of predatory behaviour, and identifying this is key to building a strong prosecution case.

The CPS is also promoting closer collaboration between prosecutors and police to ensure that key aspects of the evidence-gathering process – such as a forensic strategy – are agreed at an early stage in the investigation.

This Government is proposing to introduce an updated offence of spiking through the Crime and Policing Bill. This would streamline the legislative framework – which is currently spread across several provisions in the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 – and support prosecutors in identifying the most appropriate charge.

We recognise spiking is an under-reported crime, and strongly encourage anyone who has been a victim of this offence to report it to the police.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she intends the offence of assaulting a shop worker to apply to people working in a bureau de change.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 created a statutory aggravating factor in sentencing cases of assault against public facing workers. It applies where an assault is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public, including public-facing roles in banks, bureau de changes and building societies.

Alongside this, through our Crime and Policing Bill, this Government has introduced a new specific standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to help tackle the epidemic of shop theft and violence towards shop workers that we have seen in recent years, and protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

For the purposes of this new offence, our definition of a ‘retail worker’ is intentionally narrow given the vital need to provide legal clarity and ensure there is no ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker, and the assault took place in the course of their work.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how she defines mainly by retail in Clause 15 of the Crime and Policing Bill.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 created a statutory aggravating factor in sentencing cases of assault against public facing workers. It applies where an assault is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public, including public-facing roles in banks, bureau de changes and building societies.

Alongside this, through our Crime and Policing Bill, this Government has introduced a new specific standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to help tackle the epidemic of shop theft and violence towards shop workers that we have seen in recent years, and protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

For the purposes of this new offence, our definition of a ‘retail worker’ is intentionally narrow given the vital need to provide legal clarity and ensure there is no ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker, and the assault took place in the course of their work.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has considered the potential merits of allocating funding to the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The National Vehicle Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) is a national policing unit funded by industry, including finance and leasing companies, insurers and hauliers, to provide dedicated specialist intelligence and enforcement. NAVICS undertakes enforcement action at ports which are intelligence-led operations to tackle vehicle crime.

Whilst the Government does not fund NaVCIS, we provided £250,000 last year to other law enforcement partners to help support enforcement at the ports to prevent stolen vehicles and vehicle parts being shipped abroad, including additional staff and specialist equipment.

This Government is determined to drive down vehicle crime. We are working with the automotive industry and police, including the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on the issue, to ensure the strongest response possible. I recently met the previous NPCC vehicle crime lead, ACC Jenny Sims, as well as other law enforcement representatives and representatives from industry, to discuss how we work together to tackle these damaging crimes.

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.

In the Crime and Policing Bill we have banned electronic devices used to steal vehicles, empowering the police and courts to target the criminals using, manufacturing, importing and supplying them.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the enforcement of existing regulations on e-bike use.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

A modified e-cycle is only road-legal where it complies in full with the requirements set out in the Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle Regulations 1983. Where this is not the case, the e-cycle is classed as a motor vehicle and needs to be approved and registered with the DVLA, as well as being taxed and insured.

Enforcement of these requirements is a matter for the police, who already have powers to seize illegally modified e-cycles and to fine individuals who fail to stop when instructed to do so. While we have not carried out any formal review, the Government is providing the police with more powers to make it easier for them to seize any vehicle, including illegally modified e-cycles, where it is being used in an anti-social manner. Measures contained in the Crime and Policing Bill will allow the police to seize the vehicle without first being required to provide the rider with a warning.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to encourage the use of (a) steering wheel locks, (b) gear stick locks and (c) other car theft prevention measures.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government is determined to drive down vehicle crime. We are working with the automotive industry and police, including the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on the issue, to ensure the strongest response possible.

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.

In the Crime and Policing Bill we have banned electronic devices used to steal vehicles, empowering the police and courts to target the criminals using, manufacturing, importing and supplying them.

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

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answers of 4 July 2025 to Questions 62600 and 62603 on Nuisance, what her policy is on (a) whether nuisance begging is an offence and (b) giving powers to (i) police and (ii) local authorities to issue prevention orders relating to nuisance (A) begging and (B) rough sleeping.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

On 10th June, the Government announced its intention to repeal the outdated Vagrancy Act 1824. The Government has been clear that no one should be criminalised simply for having nowhere to live.

We have introduced targeted replacement measures in the Crime and Policing Bill to ensure police have the powers they need to keep communities safe, including a new criminal offence of facilitating begging for gain, and an offence of trespassing with the intention of committing a crime, both of which were previously provided for under the 1824 Act.

We know police forces make effective use of existing powers to tackle anti-social behaviour that occurs in this context, and we will update statutory guidance on the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to provide more certainty on how existing powers can be applied to anti-social behaviour where it occurs in the context of begging that is causing problems for local communities.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Crime and Policing Bill on the right to peaceful protest; and what steps she is taking to ensure that lawful demonstrations are not restricted.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is committed to ensuring that protest legislation is both effective and proportionate. The Government keeps all public order legislation under constant review.

While the right to protest remains a cornerstone of our democracy, the legal framework must evolve to ensure that this right does not come at the expense of public order and the rights of others.

The new offences in the Crime and Policing Bill reflect a targeted response to gaps identified through recent protest activity. They seek to regulate conduct that undermines public trust or accountability.

In the normal way, the Crime and Policing Bill (once enacted) will be subject to post-legislative scrutiny.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will provide funding to the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service in the Autumn Budget 2025 to enable it to expand its operations in key hotspots.

Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) is a national policing unit which provides dedicated specialist intelligence and enforcement on vehicle crime. NaVCIS is funded by industry, including finance and leasing companies, insurers and hauliers. In the financial year 2024-25, Home Office provided one-off funding of £250,000 to help support work at the ports to prevent stolen vehicles and vehicle parts being shipped abroad, including providing additional staff and specialist equipment.

This Government is committed to tackling vehicle crime. In the Crime and Policing Bill, we have banned electronic devices used to steal vehicles, empowering the police and courts to target the criminals using, manufacturing, importing and supplying them.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to help prevent violence against retail workers.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Under the previous Government, violence and abuse towards retail workers increased to unacceptable levels. We will not stand for this. Everybody has a right to feel safe at their place of work and we have long championed specific protections for retail workers.

In the Crime and Policing Bill, we brought a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. The Bill has now completed its passage through the House of Commons and was introduced to the House of Lords on 19 June.

Given the violence and abuse associated with shop theft, as part of the Bill we will also scrap the effective immunity – introduced by the previous government - to shop theft of goods of and under £200, making clear any shop theft is illegal.

We are providing over £7 million over the next three years to support the policing bodies tackle retail crime, including organised criminal gangs.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with (a) payment processors and (b) courier services on disrupting the purchase and delivery of knives sold online by overseas retailers without age checks.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are currently strengthening the legislation around the online sale of knives with measures in the Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently progressing through Parliament. This includes:

• introducing a two-stage age verification system at the point of online purchase.
• age and identity checks upon delivery of knives.
• increasing the penalties for the sale of knives to minors.
• increasing the penalties for possessing offensive weapons in private.
• introducing a duty on online sellers to report bulk sales of knives.
• providing the police with the power to require technology companies responsible for social media sites, marketplaces, and search services to take down illegal knife and offensive weapon content.
• Introducing a new offence in respect of possession of a knife likely to be used in unlawful violence.
• giving the police a new power to seize knives they believe will likely be used for unlawful violence.

We have also taken action to ban zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes from 24 September 2024; and to ban ninja swords from 1 August 2025.

The Home Secretary also commissionedCommander Stephen Clayman, the National Police Lead on knife crime, to undertake t a review into the online sale and delivery of knives. The review was completed and its report published on 19 February 2025. The Government acted on the review’s recommendations immediately concerning better age verification checks at point of sale and delivery and requiring online sellers to report bulk purchases of knives. We will also be consulting later this year on a registration scheme for sellers of knives, as recommended by Commander Clayman in his review, and we are exploring the review’s other recommendations including changes in respect of importation of knives.

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 using existing legislation to restrict the online sale and import of knives from overseas.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are currently strengthening the legislation around the online sale of knives with measures in the Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently progressing through Parliament. This includes:

• introducing a two-stage age verification system at the point of online purchase.
• age and identity checks upon delivery of knives.
• increasing the penalties for the sale of knives to minors.
• increasing the penalties for possessing offensive weapons in private.
• introducing a duty on online sellers to report bulk sales of knives.
• providing the police with the power to require technology companies responsible for social media sites, marketplaces, and search services to take down illegal knife and offensive weapon content.
• Introducing a new offence in respect of possession of a knife likely to be used in unlawful violence.
• giving the police a new power to seize knives they believe will likely be used for unlawful violence.

We have also taken action to ban zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes from 24 September 2024; and to ban ninja swords from 1 August 2025.

The Home Secretary also commissionedCommander Stephen Clayman, the National Police Lead on knife crime, to undertake t a review into the online sale and delivery of knives. The review was completed and its report published on 19 February 2025. The Government acted on the review’s recommendations immediately concerning better age verification checks at point of sale and delivery and requiring online sellers to report bulk purchases of knives. We will also be consulting later this year on a registration scheme for sellers of knives, as recommended by Commander Clayman in his review, and we are exploring the review’s other recommendations including changes in respect of importation of knives.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking with (a) Buckinghamshire Council and (b) Thames Valley Police to help reduce incidents of fly-tipping.

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

Local authorities are usually best placed to respond to fly-tipping problems in their area. Defra chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG), through which we work with a wide range of interested parties, including local authorities and National Police Chiefs Council, to share good practice with regards to preventing fly-tipping. The NFTPG has developed various practical tools including a guide on how councils and others can set up and run effective local partnerships to tackle fly-tipping. These are available at: https://nftpg.com/.

We also encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers. We are seeking powers in the Crime and Policing Bill to provide statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance to support councils to consistently, appropriately and effectively exercise their existing powers. We have also announced a review of council powers to seize and crush vehicles of suspected fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against the transgender community.

Answered by Nia Griffith

This Government is determined to tackle all forms of hate crime, including transphobic hate crime.

Via the Crime and Policing Bill, we are delivering our manifesto commitment to treat such crimes as aggravated offences and ensure that perpetrators who carry out crimes against someone based on their transgender identity, sexual orientation or disability will spend longer behind bars. We will also deliver a full trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle anti-social behaviour caused by the use of e-scooters in (a) town centres and (b) neighbourhoods.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Home Office does not centrally hold data on the number of illegally modified or off-road bikes that have been seized by police in England and Wales, and could only collate that information for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) and the harm it causes is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. As part of the Neighbourhood Policing Grant, £200 million has been allocated to forces for 2025/26 to support the Government’s commitment to deliver additional personnel into neighbourhood policing. This includes ensuring that every force area will have a dedicated lead officer for anti-social behaviour who will work with communities to develop an action plan to reduce and prevent ASB.

The Crime and Policing Bill will give police greater powers to clamp down on anti-social behaviour involving vehicles of all types, including e-scooters and off-road and illegally modified bikes, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles. The Government also recently consulted on proposals to allow the police to more quickly dispose of seized vehicles which have been used anti-socially.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will work with (a) housing associations, (b) police authorities, (c) mayors, (d) local authorities and (e) other landlords to introduce fast track courts to tackle antisocial behaviour cases.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) and the harm it causes is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. Every police force in England and Wales now has a dedicated lead officer for ASB, who will work with communities to develop a local ASB action plan.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are strengthening the powers available to the police and other relevant agencies to tackle ASB quickly and effectively. ​We will crack down on those making neighbourhoods feel unsafe and unwelcoming by introducing the new Respect Order, which will carry tough sanctions and penalties for persistent adult offenders. Breaching a Respect Order will be a criminal offence, allowing police officers to immediately arrest offenders and disrupt ongoing ASB. We are also extending the maximum exclusion period for dispersal directions from 48 to 72 hours and enhancing the powers for the police to seize nuisance off-road bikes, and other vehicles which are being used in an anti-social manner, without having to first give a warning to the offender.

There are currently no plans to introduce fast-track courts for ASB.

This Government inherited a record and rising courts backlog. We have funded a record-high allocation of 110,000 Crown Court sitting days for this year to tackle the outstanding caseload, including in relation to ASB cases.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 9 July 2025 to Question 64498 on Waste Disposal: Fixed Penalties, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his Department's policies of instances of local authorities using fly-tipping powers to fine households for breaches of waste receptacle offences that would not permit a waste receptacle fine under the harm to local amenity test.

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

This Government has not made an assessment of the potential implications for the department’s policies of instances of local authorities using fly-tipping powers to fine households for breaches of waste receptacle offences that would not permit a waste receptacle fine under the harm to local amenity test.

The principles of the Regulators Code apply to enforcement action carried out by local authorities. This includes that regulatory activity should be carried out in a way which is proportionate, transparent, accountable and consistent.

We are seeking powers in the Crime and Policing Bill to provide statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance to support councils to consistently, appropriately and effectively exercise existing enforcement powers.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department plans to take to help ensure that police officers have the (a) time and (b) resources to seize (i) illegally modified and (ii) off-road bikes.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Home Office does not centrally hold data on the number of illegally modified or off-road bikes that have been seized by police in England and Wales, and could only collate that information for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) and the harm it causes is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. As part of the Neighbourhood Policing Grant, £200 million has been allocated to forces for 2025/26 to support the Government’s commitment to deliver additional personnel into neighbourhood policing. This includes ensuring that every force area will have a dedicated lead officer for anti-social behaviour who will work with communities to develop an action plan to reduce and prevent ASB.

The Crime and Policing Bill will give police greater powers to clamp down on anti-social behaviour involving vehicles of all types, including e-scooters and off-road and illegally modified bikes, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles. The Government also recently consulted on proposals to allow the police to more quickly dispose of seized vehicles which have been used anti-socially.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) illegally modified and (b) off-road bikes have been seized by (i) Greater Manchester Police and (ii) all police forces in the last 12 months.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Home Office does not centrally hold data on the number of illegally modified or off-road bikes that have been seized by police in England and Wales, and could only collate that information for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) and the harm it causes is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. As part of the Neighbourhood Policing Grant, £200 million has been allocated to forces for 2025/26 to support the Government’s commitment to deliver additional personnel into neighbourhood policing. This includes ensuring that every force area will have a dedicated lead officer for anti-social behaviour who will work with communities to develop an action plan to reduce and prevent ASB.

The Crime and Policing Bill will give police greater powers to clamp down on anti-social behaviour involving vehicles of all types, including e-scooters and off-road and illegally modified bikes, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles. The Government also recently consulted on proposals to allow the police to more quickly dispose of seized vehicles which have been used anti-socially.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of (a) violent and (b) abusive pornography on (i) the normalisation of misogynistic (A) attitudes and (B) violence against women and girls and (ii) society.

Answered by Feryal Clark

The Independent Pornography Review looked at the relationship between online pornography and violence against women and girls; its findings and recommendations continue to be assessed in detail by the government.

The Review found violent pornography is common and widely accessible on mainstream pornography platforms, leading to acts like strangulation becoming normalised in real-life sexual encounters, with women and girls being the main victims.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, the government will make pornography depicting acts of strangulation illegal and from 25 July the Online Safety Act will prevent children from accessing pornography through highly effective age assurance.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of potential impacts of the decriminalisation of abortion on (1) clinical safeguards, (2) informed consent procedures, (3) access to alternative support services, and (4) the protection of vulnerable women.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The House of Commons has voted to add a clause to the Crime and Policing Bill which disapplies the criminal offences related to abortion for a woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy. These offences would still apply to medical professionals and third parties who do not abide by the rules set out in the Abortion Act 1967. The bill will now continue its progress through Parliament.

Informed consent is separate from the requirements set by the Abortion Act for two doctors to certify that a woman meets the grounds for abortion. Consent to treatment means a person must give permission before they receive any type of medical treatment, test, or examination. For consent to be valid, it must be voluntary and informed, and the person consenting must have the capacity to make the decision. These principles will continue to apply irrespective of whether abortion is decriminalised.

As part of standards set by the Care Quality Commission, abortion services must be able to prove that they have processes in place to ensure that all women and girls are seeking services voluntarily. It will also remain a requirement for an abortion service, as laid out in the Department’s Required Standard Operating Procedures, that staff should be able to identify those who require more support than can be provided in the routine abortion service setting, for example young women, those with a pre-existing mental health condition, those who are subject to sexual violence or poor social support, or where there is evidence of coercion.

Safeguarding is an essential aspect of abortion care, and abortion providers are required to have effective arrangements in place to safeguard children and vulnerable adults accessing their services. Providers must ensure that all staff are trained to recognise the signs of potential abuse and coercion and know how to respond. In addition, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has published national safeguarding guidance for under-18 year olds accessing early medical abortion services, which aims to ensure that robust safeguarding processes are embedded in all services. We expect all providers to have due regard to this guidance.

The Department is continuing to monitor abortion related amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill and will consider whether current arrangements are sufficient or if additional guidance is needed.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the legal protections of unborn children in the event that abortion is decriminalised through the repeal of sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929; and whether any alternative legal provisions would remain in place to provide protection to unborn children.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Existing criminal offences relating to fetuses are contained in the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Infant Life Preservation Act 1929.

The House of Commons has voted to add a clause to the Crime and Policing Bill which disapplies the criminal offences related to abortion for a woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy. These offences would still apply to medical professionals and third parties who do not abide by the rules set out in the Abortion Act 1967. The Government has no plans to change these.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the information sharing duties in the (a) Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and (b) Crime and Policing Bill on GPs.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to improving information sharing across services to help safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Department for Education and the Home Office on their respective information sharing proposals, which are included in Department for Education’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and the Home Office’s Crime and Policing Bill.

The information sharing proposals aim to establish a clear and consistent process to share information. To support the formulation and test the feasibility of these proposals, we have engaged with health stakeholders, including general practitioners, though a variety of forums. We will continue to engage with health stakeholders as we plan for the effective implementation of the use of the single unique identifier, the information sharing duty, and the child sexual abuse mandatory reporting duty.

The Department for Education has published an impact assessment on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessments

The Home Office and the Ministry of Justice have published an impact assessment on the Crime and Policing Bill, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crime-and-policing-bill-2025-impact-assessments

We will continue to support the departments leading on the respective bills to review and update these documents, once the bills have completed their passages through the House of Lords.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the police on tackling illegal motorbike driving in public spaces in the West Midlands.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

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

Our Crime and Policing Bill will give the police greater powers to clamp down on all vehicles, including motorbikes, involved in anti-social behaviour with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles.

On 28 May, the Government launched a six-week consultation on proposals to allow the police to more quickly dispose of seized vehicles such as motorbikes, which have been used anti-socially.

Combined, these proposals will help tackle the scourge of vehicles ridden anti-socially in West Midlands by sending a clear message to would be offenders and local communities that this behaviour will not be tolerated.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of reported shoplifting offences result in police attendance.

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

Data published by the NPCC (Policing Retail Crime Action Plan shows early impact), from a dip sample of 1,500 shoplifting incidents in December 2023, show that police attended:

• 60% of incidents where violence was used, with 16% of forces reporting 100% attendance for this type of incident.

• 76% of incidents where a suspect had been detained, with 21% of forces reporting 100% attendance.

Our Safer Streets Summer Initiative will see increased police patrols and local action in over 500 town centres this summer. As part of our Safer Streets Mission, we are committed to restoring neighbourhood policing, and as a result of our £200 million investment, we will see an additional 3,000 neighbourhood officers and PCSOs on the beat in communities across the country this year.

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.

To help tackle retail crime, we will provide £5 million over the next three years to continue to fund a specialist analysis team within Opal, the national policing intelligence unit for serious organised acquisitive crime.

We will also invest £2 million over the next three years in the National Business Crime Centre which provides a resource for both police and businesses to learn, share and support each other to prevent and combat crime.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce levels of hate crime around places of worship.

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

This Government is committed to protecting the right of individuals to freely practise their religion at their chosen place of worship, and to making our streets and communities safer. The Government and police work closely together to review threats and strengthen protections for communities against terrorism and hate crime.

In 2025/26, up to £50.9 million is available to protect faith communities and places of worship, including £18 million through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant, and £29.4 million through the Protective Security for Mosques scheme and for security at Muslim faith schools.

As part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to safeguarding religious freedom and community safety, we are also introducing a new measure within the Crime and Policing Bill that strengthens police powers around all places of worship.

Further to their existing powers, this measure will enable the police to place conditions on protests near places of worship, preventing disruptive tactics and ensuring worshippers can practise their faith peacefully.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help ensure that survivors of (a) domestic violence and (b) stalking are given (i) regular and (ii) timely updates on their case to equip them to safeguard themselves from further risk.

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

Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government and our manifesto set out an unprecedented mission to halve it in a decade.

The Victims' Code is statutory guidance that sets out the minimum level of service that victims of crime should receive from the criminal justice system. The Victim's Code includes the Right for a victim to be provided with updates on their case and to be told when important decisions are taken. If their case goes to court, the victim also has the Right to be told the time, date and location of any hearing and the outcome of those hearings in a timely way. Furthermore, the Victim's Code includes the Right to be told the outcome of the case and, if the defendant is convicted, to be given an explanation of the sentence.

The Government will consult on a new Victims' Code in due course to ensure that we get the foundations for victims right. We will also spend time developing the right framework for oversight of the delivery of the Code this year, making sure we make the most effective use of data and get the metrics right.

Additionally, through the Crime and Policing Bill, the Government is introducing provisions to issue multi-agency statutory guidance on stalking. This will set out, for the first time, a robust framework for how agencies such as the police, local authorities and healthcare should work together to pursue perpetrators and support victims. The Government is also introducing 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.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of existing legislation surrounding violence against women and girls.

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

This Government is taking action to deliver a transformative, cross-government approach to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) underpinned by a new strategy which will be published later this year. We have already sought to strengthen the legislation surrounding violence against women and girls. We have introduced in the Crime and Policing Bill a range of measures including a new spiking offence, provisions strengthening the law on child sexual abuse on managing sex offenders, and on strengthening the law on stalking, taking intimate images without consent, and exposure offences. In the Data (Use and Access) Act we are banning the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes.

I also look forward to reviewing the Law Commission’s recommendations on how we can introduce legislation to change practice relating to the use of evidence in sexual offence prosecutions, so that practitioners do not rely on or perpetuate so-called rape myths and misconceptions at court. In particular, the Law Commission will make recommendations on the admissibility of evidence relating to so-called false allegations, sexual behaviour evidence, and the use of special measures.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance for local authorities.

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

The Government is seeking powers in the Crime and Policing Bill to provide statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance. Following Royal Assent, we will carry out a consultation with relevant stakeholders including local authorities. Once the consultation has concluded and responses taken into account, we will look to publish the guidance as soon as is practical.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to support police to enforce laws prohibiting e-scooters being ridden on pavements.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

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

Our Crime and Policing Bill will give the police greater powers to clamp down on all vehicles, including e-scooters, involved in anti-social behaviour with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles.

On 28 May, the Government launched a six-week consultation on proposals to allow the police to more quickly dispose of seized vehicles such as e-scooters, which have been used anti-socially.

Combined, these proposals will help tackle the scourge of vehicles ridden anti-socially by sending a clear message to would be offenders and local communities that this behaviour will not be tolerated.

There are various offences relating to e-scooter use that the police can enforce with a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN). Riding an e-scooter on the pavement can result in a FPN of £50.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department plans to require AI developers to demonstrate that their models include technical protections against the generation of (a) child sexual abuse imagery and (b) other (i) illegal and (ii) harmful material.

Answered by Feryal Clark

The Government recognises the importance of tackling AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Creating, possessing, or distributing CSAM, including AI Generated CSAM, is illegal. The Online Safety Act requires services to proactively identify and remove this content. We are taking further action in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise CSAM image generators.

As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we believe most AI systems should be regulated at the point of use, with our expert regulators best placed to do so. Departments are working proactively with regulators to provide clear strategic direction and support them on their AI capability needs.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that AI technologies which fall outside the scope of the Online Safety Act are subject to appropriate regulatory oversight of their potential use in generating child sexual abuse material.

Answered by Feryal Clark

We are committed to ensuring our laws keep pace with technology and are building on the Online Safety Act by taking further action in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise AI models which have been optimised to create child sexual abuse material.

As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we believe most AI systems should be regulated at the point of use, with our expert regulators best placed to do so. We are working proactively with regulators, including Ofcom, to provide clear strategic direction and support them on their AI capability needs.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department plans to include statutory obligations for AI developers to adopt safety-by-design measures to prevent the creation of child sexual abuse content.

Answered by Feryal Clark

The Government recognises the importance of tackling AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Creating, possessing, or distributing CSAM, including AI Generated CSAM, is illegal. The Online Safety Act requires services to proactively identify and remove this content. We are taking further action in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise CSAM image generators.

As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we believe most AI systems should be regulated at the point of use, with our expert regulators best placed to do so. Departments are working proactively with regulators to provide clear strategic direction and support them on their AI capability needs.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that AI models are developed with safeguards to prevent their use in generating child sexual abuse material.

Answered by Feryal Clark

The Government recognises the importance of tackling AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Creating, possessing, or distributing CSAM, including AI Generated CSAM, is illegal. The Online Safety Act requires services to proactively identify and remove this content. We are taking further action in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise CSAM image generators.

As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we believe most AI systems should be regulated at the point of use, with our expert regulators best placed to do so. Departments are working proactively with regulators to provide clear strategic direction and support them on their AI capability needs.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent assessment his Department has made of the risk of generative AI being used to produce child sexual abuse material.

Answered by Feryal Clark

The Government recognises the importance of tackling AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Creating, possessing, or distributing CSAM, including AI Generated CSAM, is illegal. The Online Safety Act requires services to proactively identify and remove this content. We are taking further action in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise CSAM image generators.

As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we believe most AI systems should be regulated at the point of use, with our expert regulators best placed to do so. Departments are working proactively with regulators to provide clear strategic direction and support them on their AI capability needs.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase sentences for sexual predators.

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

Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for our independent courts. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors.

Courts are assisted in setting a sentence by sentencing guidelines which are issued by the Sentencing Council, and which the courts must follow unless it is not in the interests of justice to do so. The Government continues to keep maximum penalties under review to ensure they reflect the seriousness of offending behaviour.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill we are legislating to make grooming a statutory aggravating factor in the sentencing of child sexual offences.

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 local authorities’ (a) powers and (b) resources to enforce Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPO) requiring dogs to be kept on leads in public parks; and what steps her Department is taking to support councils in (i) extending PSPO coverage where necessary and (ii) improving public (A) awareness and (B) enforcement to reduce dog-related incidents in shared green spaces.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police and local authorities with a range of flexible tools and powers, including Public Spaces Protection Orders, that they can use to tackle dog-related incidents in public spaces.

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

We are making changes to some of the powers in the 2014 Act via the Crime and Policing Bill 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 breach of a Public Spaces Protection Order from £100 to £500 to act as a stronger deterrent to anti-social behaviour, including dog-related incidents in public spaces.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce anti-social behaviour by people on motorbikes in Surrey Heath constituency.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

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

Our Crime and Policing Bill will give the police greater powers to clamp down on all vehicles, including motorbikes, involved in anti-social behaviour, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles.

On 28 May, the Government launched a six-week consultation on proposals to allow the police to more quickly dispose of seized vehicles such as motorbikes, which have been used anti-socially.

Combined, these proposals will help tackle the scourge of vehicles ridden anti-socially and illegally by sending a clear message to would be offenders and local communities that this behaviour will not be tolerated.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the findings of the Children's Commissioner's report ‘A lot of it is actually just abuse' - Young people and pornography, published in January 2023, what progress they have made in reducing the harms to adolescents and children caused by violent photography, including non-fatal strangulation and incest in pornography.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

The Independent Pornography Review was a thorough assessment of a complicated and multi-faceted set of issues. Government departments are undertaking detailed work to consider how best to tackle the important set of issues raised.

The Government has recently announced that pornography depicting acts of strangulation will be made illegal through Crime and Policing Bill. The Online Safety Act will prevent children from accessing pornography, with duties requiring highly effective age assurance in force from 25 July.

Ofcom's draft guidance summarises measures for platforms to tackle the abuse that women and girls disproportionately face online. The finalised guidance will be published by the end of the year.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the draft guidance A safer life online for women and girls, published by Ofcom on 25 February under the Online Safety Act 2023; and what assessment they have made of whether there is a gap in the guidance on online pornography regulation.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

The Independent Pornography Review was a thorough assessment of a complicated and multi-faceted set of issues. Government departments are undertaking detailed work to consider how best to tackle the important set of issues raised.

The Government has recently announced that pornography depicting acts of strangulation will be made illegal through Crime and Policing Bill. The Online Safety Act will prevent children from accessing pornography, with duties requiring highly effective age assurance in force from 25 July.

Ofcom's draft guidance summarises measures for platforms to tackle the abuse that women and girls disproportionately face online. The finalised guidance will be published by the end of the year.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 15 May (HL7084), what is the timetable for implementing the recommendations of Creating a Safer World–the Challenge of Regulating Online Pornography (HC 592), published on 27 February.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

The Independent Pornography Review was a thorough assessment of a complicated and multi-faceted set of issues. Government departments are undertaking detailed work to consider how best to tackle the important set of issues raised.

The Government has recently announced that pornography depicting acts of strangulation will be made illegal through Crime and Policing Bill. The Online Safety Act will prevent children from accessing pornography, with duties requiring highly effective age assurance in force from 25 July.

Ofcom's draft guidance summarises measures for platforms to tackle the abuse that women and girls disproportionately face online. The finalised guidance will be published by the end of the year.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle mobile phone theft.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Home Secretary has been clear that tackling mobile phone theft is a key priority. In February, the Home Secretary brought together police, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, local government representatives, leading technology companies and others to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves. The Summit resulted in commitments from attendees to work in partnership, including to significantly boost the sharing of data and intelligence on mobile phone theft to build a comprehensive picture of the problem, better understand the role of organised crime networks and identify the most effective means of tackling these crimes.

The Home Secretary will reconvene the group shortly to review progress made and determine next steps to ensure that the police, technology companies and the Government continues to work together to tackle this criminality.

In addition, the Crime and Policing Bill includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property that has been electronically geo-location tracked to those premises, where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose. This power will support efforts to recover stolen phones before they can be resold.

Through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee we will also place thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers in neighbourhood policing roles to provide a more visible and effective service to the public, with each neighbourhood having a named, contactable officer dealing with local issues, including the theft of mobile phones.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he plans to take steps through a regulatory framework for artificial intelligence to (a) mandate safety-by-design principles, (b) mitigate potential harms and (c) prevent AI-generated child sexual abuse material.

Answered by Feryal Clark

As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we believe most AI systems should be regulated at the point of use, with our expert regulators best placed to do so. Departments are working proactively with regulators to provide clear strategic direction and support them on their AI capability needs.

On Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) specifically, creating, possessing, or distributing AI-generated CSAM is illegal, and the Online Safety Act requires services to identify and remove it. We are also taking further action in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise AI models which have been optimised to create CSAM.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her Department's proposals for a Remote Betting & Gaming Duty on (a) levels of investment in the UK, (b) consumer costs and (c) levels of illegal gambling.

Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Government is consulting on proposals to simplify the current gambling tax system by merging the three current taxes that cover remote (including online) gambling into one. The Government welcomes views from stakeholders, as part of the consultation process.

No final policy decisions have been made. If any changes are made to gambling duties at a future Budget following the consultation, they will be accompanied by a Tax Information and Impact Note which will set out the expected impacts, including to individuals, businesses and the wider economy.

DCMS works closely with the Gambling Commission to ensure that illegal gambling, in all its forms, is addressed. The Crime and Policing Bill, introduced in Parliament on 25 February 2025, will grant the Gambling Commission with powers to move quickly and effectively to take down illegal gambling websites.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing police forces with new enforcement powers to seize (a) unsafe and (b) non-compliant e-bikes.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission to take back our streets. Any form of anti-social, dangerous or inconsiderate behaviour involving vehicles is a serious issue.

Our Crime and Policing Bill will give the police greater powers to clamp down on all vehicles, including e-bikes, involved in anti-social behaviour including street racing, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles.

On 28 May, the Government launched a six-week consultation on proposals to allow the police to dispose of seized vehicles such as e-bikes, which have been used anti-socially from 14 days to 48 hours. Combined, these proposals will help tackle the scourge of vehicles ridden anti-socially and illegally by sending a clear message to would be offenders and local communities that this behaviour will not be tolerated.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of police powers to tackle bike thefts.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

As part of this Government’s Plan for Change, our Safer Streets Mission is determined to clamp down on the crime that damages our communities, and affects people’s lives, and tackling theft – including bike theft - is a crucial part of that work.

We are delivering on our commitment to restore and strengthen neighbourhood policing, recruiting 13,000 additional police personnel into neighbourhood roles by the end of the Parliament and ensuring every community has named, contactable officers to turn to on local issues.

As a part of this pledge, the Metropolitan Police Service have been allocated £45,639,456 funding in 2025/26 to bolster their neighbourhood policing teams. Based on their funding allocation, the Metropolitan Police Service’s projected growth over 2025 to 2026 will be 420 police officers (FTE) and 50 Police Community Support Officers (FTE).

The Crime and Policing Bill, introduced to the House of Lords on 19 June 2025, will amend the Theft Act 1968 to give police new powers. Officers will be able to enter and search premises where stolen items – such as GPS-tracked bicycles – are reasonably believed to have been stolen and located, and where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a court warrant. This will significantly enhance the ability of the police to act swiftly and effectively in recovering stolen property.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle fly-tipping in (a) rural and (b) suburban communities.

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

Fly-tipping is a serious crime which blights communities and places significant costs on both taxpayers and businesses.

Local authorities are responsible for tackling fly-tipping in their areas and we want to see an effective enforcement strategy at the centre of their efforts to tackle the problem. We are therefore taking steps to help councils make good use of their powers, including seeking powers in the Crime and Policing Bill to provide statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance. We are also reviewing their powers to seize and crush vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.

In our manifesto we committed to forcing fly-tippers 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 chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG), through which we work with a wide range of interested parties, including local authorities and the National Farmers Union to share good practice with regards to preventing fly-tipping, including on private land. The NFTPG has developed various practical tools, guidance and case studies highlighting best practice. These are available at: https://nftpg.com/.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce violence against women and girls in (a) Fylde constituency and (b) Lancashire.

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

The scale of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in our country is intolerable and this Government is treating it as the national emergency that it is. We are going further than ever before to deliver a cross-government transformative approach, which will be underpinned by a new VAWG Strategy later this year.

In May 2025, we announced a £19.9m investment to provide vital support to victims of VAWG and increase awareness to prevent these horrific crimes. This includes over £6 million for national helplines supporting victims of domestic abuse, 'honour'-based abuse, revenge porn and stalking, and £2.5m on prevention and early intervention.

Specifically in Lancashire, we have allocated £442,000 to Lancashire PCC for perpetrator funding. PCCs are best placed to understand their local communities and providers, and to commission appropriate support to meet that need.

Lancashire PCC currently receives funding from the Home Office’s Domestic Abuse and Stalking Perpetrator Intervention Fund. Using this funding, they deliver the Drive Project, which works with high-risk, serial domestic abuse perpetrators who are deemed to cause the most harm, in a few local authority areas.

At the national level, we have embedded domestic abuse specialists and dedicated domestic abuse teams in the first five 999 control rooms under Raneem’s Law, launched the new Domestic Abuse Protection Orders in selected police forces and courts and announced a new package of measures to tackle spiking, including committing to introducing a new criminal offence for spiking and piloting new spiking training for bar staff.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are introducing a range of legislative measures to improve the response to sex offender management and stalking. Under the Bill, the police will be given new powers to issue a notice prohibiting registered sex offenders who pose a risk from changing their name without prior authorisation. Other measures include requiring registered sex offenders to provide advance notice before entering premises where children are present, and improving the management of stalkers. This includes statutory guidance for the police in releasing identifying information about online stalking perpetrators to victims as part of the “right to know”.

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Found: This will include powers to ban protests outright, and will also include provisions in the Crime and Policing Bill

Found: new package of measures to tackle ransomware, and we are boosting police powers through the Crime and Policing Bill

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Found: Criminalising pornography that depicts acts of strangulation through the Crime and Policing Bill.

Found: towards outcomes in action plans so that communities can provide ongoing feedback� 57� The Crime and Policing Bill

Found: A new offence of Child Criminal Exploitation has been introduced in the Crime and Policing Bill.

Found:

Found: Stamp out Spiking

Found: Alex Davies-Jones 2025-04-23 Stamp out Spiking Discussed Spiking in the Crime and Policing Bill

Found: We have also introduced the Crime and Policing Bill to drive forward the mission and equip law enforcement

Found: The new administration is progressing a revised Crime and Policing Bill that reintroduces those powers

Found: This was introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill in February 2025 and can be found on parliament.uk

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Found: Act 2024 • Armed Forces Commissioner Bill • Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill • Crime and Policing Bill

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Found: prosecute offenders of child exploitation, and working with UK Government to assess how its Crime and Policing Bill

Found: Other legislation currently being considered by the UK Parliament, including the Crime and Policing Bill

Found: time of writing (2024), cuckooing is to be made criminal offence in Scotland through the Crime and Policing bill

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that more than 400 children a day are targeted by online predators in Scotland.

Answered by None

Protecting children from harm is a key priority for the Scottish Government. Child sexual abuse and exploitation are abhorrent crimes and have a devastating impact on victims and their families. In Scotland, we are working closely with partners to deliver a co-ordinated multi-agency response to preventing child sexual abuse and exploitation in all its forms. We are committed to ensuring that robust measures are in place across Scotland to make sure our services can identify and support victims of online harm, including children and young people.

We are taking forward a range of work with our partners to both prevent abuse and intervene early to ensure that risk and harm to children and young people is recognised and acted on quickly and effectively. This includes the establishment of a new National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group, comprising of operational partners, including Police Scotland, and other expert stakeholders, to review current action and agree where additional focus is needed to better protect children from abuse and exploitation, including online-enabled harm. This group’s overarching priority is prevention. Members are working together to identify priorities and actions to more effectively prevent, disrupt and provide support to victims of child sexual abuse and their families, including those facing online harms.

The Scottish Government is also a member of Police Scotland’s Multi-Agency Group on Preventing Online Child Sexual Abuse which monitors emerging online threats to develop a shared approach to using technological advancements to tackle abuse, improve data-gathering, improve support for victims and survivors and promote key activities delivered by our partners.

While regulation of the internet remains a reserved matter, we have successfully engaged with the UK Government on its Online Safety Act to strengthen protections for young people. The Scottish Government is also working closely with the UK Government on extending relevant Crime and Policing Bill provisions to Scotland, including offences relating to the possession, creation and distribution of Artificial Intelligence tools designed to create child sexual abuse material.

It is also important to emphasise the responsibility of tech firms in protecting children and young people. This is why I met Ofcom in August and again last week alongside the Minister for Community Safety to ensure pressure is put on tech companies to deliver effective safeguards for young people online, including the need for more prescriptive guidance to providers. The First Minister wrote directly to tech firms last year to remind them of their responsibilities and, alongside the Minister for Victims and Community Safety, I recently wrote to social media companies to invite them to meet to discuss the protection of children and young people from online harm.

We will continue to engage with the UK Government and Ofcom on implementation of legislation and to press for stronger protections to help keep children and young people in Scotland safe online.

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any steps it is taking, including in relation to legislation, to prevent registered sex offenders from changing their name, and for what reason it has not already taken any such action, in light of the legislative changes being pursued by the UK Government.

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, and Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements documentation includes the recording of any aliases. 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. A Legislative Consent Memorandum (LCM) was lodged on 16 May 2025 recommending that the Scottish Parliament consents to the legislative provisions around sex offender management contained in the Bill. We await the outcome of the Parliamentary process which will determine whether or not consent is given to the provisions.

Found: Government Employment Rights Bill - supplementary memorandum 3 April 2025 Consent recommended Crime and Policing Bill

Found: granted Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill Consent recommended 26 June 2025 Consent granted Crime and Policing Bill

Found: The Crime and Policing Bill - reform of the law of child abduction for England and Wales The Crime and

Found: 1 SUPPLEMENTARY LEGISLATIVE CONSENT MEMORANDUM (MEMORANDUM NO 2) CRIME AND POLICING BILL

Found: , June 2025, paragraph 55; The Welsh Government’s Legislative Consent Memorandum on the Crime and Policing Bill

Found: consider and report on the Supplementary Legislative Consent Memorandum (No.2) on the Crime and Policing Bill

Found: Constitution Committee The Welsh Government’s Legislative Consent Memorandum on the Crime and Policing Bill

Found: Constitution Committee to consider and report on the Legislative Consent Memorandum on the Crime and Policing Bill

Found: 1 LEGISLATIVE CONSENT MEMORANDUM CRIME AND POLICING BILL 1.

Found: Bill. 21 LJC Committee, The Welsh Government’s Legislative Consent Memorandum on the Crime and Policing Bill

Found: The Welsh Government’s Legislative Consent Memorandum on the Crime and Policing Bill Welsh Government

Found: consider and report on the Supplementary Legislative Consent Memorandum (No.2) on the Crime and Policing Bill