Violence Against Retail Workers

Baroness Sater Excerpts

Tuesday 14th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

We take a whole of government approach to this. One of the reasons why we are looking at the range of issues on retail crime implementation is to make sure that we can manage new pressures in the system. The noble Lord is right: it is important from the Home Office’s perspective that we catch them or prevent them, but for the Ministry of Justice and other departments it is important that we have speedy justice and, if need be, imprison them. That is a whole of government approach. The key point I would leave the House with is that this is a really important issue.

[Baroness Sater (Con)]

My Lords, at a meeting of the APPG on Sport and Physical Activity in the Criminal Justice System, which I co-chair, Nike highlighted the growing scale of retail theft and violence against shop workers. Given the evidence that sport and physical activity can support early intervention, diversion and rehabilitation, I would be grateful if the Minister would be willing to work with organisations in the sector to explore how these approaches could form part of the Government’s wider strategy to tackle retail crime.

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

It is extremely important that we prevent crime. That is why it is important that we go back to the ultimate basics on this. If people at school age involve themselves in retail crime, there need to be efforts and support to give them an alternative lifestyle. Retail crime does grow, and people who engage in what they would term low-level activity will find themselves at some time doing higher-level, more damaging activity. I go back to the basic principle that shop theft damages the shops, it damages all of us as consumers, it damages the individuals who undertake it and we have to try to drive it down. To do that, we have put in place measures on prevention of retail attacks and measures of change to shift the balance so the police can focus on shop theft. On the point the noble Baroness made about early intervention, if people are involved and come to the attention of the authorities, there should be mechanisms to help support them to turn away from that life.