Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
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 preventing scrap metal yards using prepaid credit cards to pay scrap metal dealers.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises that metal theft can cause significant distress and disruption, not only in terms of financial loss to businesses but also to people’s sense of safety and security in their local communities. Police recorded metal theft offences have been falling since the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. This legislation was introduced to reverse what was then a rising trend by strengthening regulation of the metal recycling sector and making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal.
Whilst these reductions are welcome, the Government is determined to go further. We are driving work with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), which brings together industry representatives, policing and law enforcement agencies to tackle metal theft. The NICRP promotes intelligence sharing, targeted enforcement, and the implementation of crime prevention strategies across forces. To date, the Partnership has delivered training to 2,000 police officers and facilitates the sharing of data and intelligence among partners to support efforts to identify and disrupt offenders.
There is close cooperation between police, Environment Agency and other enforcement bodies in dealing with facilities such as scrap yards, as there are significant overlaps between environmental, acquisitive, and other types of crime. The Environment Agency is increasingly looking at the financial aspects of offending.
The Government is also prioritising reducing the profitability of acquisitive crime. We will continue to work with the police to better understand the disposal routes used to sell stolen goods and the Home Office will continue to work with other Government departments and online sites such as eBay, Gumtree and Meta (Facebook) to inform what more can be done to tackle the stolen goods market.
Whilst Immigration Enforcement does not have any primary responsibility in the licencing of scrap metal dealing, or in tackling unlicenced scrap metal dealing, it discharges its duties in line with the law.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps (a) the police and (b) immigration enforcement are taking to prevent unlicensed scrap metal dealing.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises that metal theft can cause significant distress and disruption, not only in terms of financial loss to businesses but also to people’s sense of safety and security in their local communities. Police recorded metal theft offences have been falling since the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. This legislation was introduced to reverse what was then a rising trend by strengthening regulation of the metal recycling sector and making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal.
Whilst these reductions are welcome, the Government is determined to go further. We are driving work with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), which brings together industry representatives, policing and law enforcement agencies to tackle metal theft. The NICRP promotes intelligence sharing, targeted enforcement, and the implementation of crime prevention strategies across forces. To date, the Partnership has delivered training to 2,000 police officers and facilitates the sharing of data and intelligence among partners to support efforts to identify and disrupt offenders.
There is close cooperation between police, Environment Agency and other enforcement bodies in dealing with facilities such as scrap yards, as there are significant overlaps between environmental, acquisitive, and other types of crime. The Environment Agency is increasingly looking at the financial aspects of offending.
The Government is also prioritising reducing the profitability of acquisitive crime. We will continue to work with the police to better understand the disposal routes used to sell stolen goods and the Home Office will continue to work with other Government departments and online sites such as eBay, Gumtree and Meta (Facebook) to inform what more can be done to tackle the stolen goods market.
Whilst Immigration Enforcement does not have any primary responsibility in the licencing of scrap metal dealing, or in tackling unlicenced scrap metal dealing, it discharges its duties in line with the law.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what action she is taking to stop unlicensed scrap metal dealing.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises that metal theft can cause significant distress and disruption, not only in terms of financial loss to businesses but also to people’s sense of safety and security in their local communities. Police recorded metal theft offences have been falling since the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. This legislation was introduced to reverse what was then a rising trend by strengthening regulation of the metal recycling sector and making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal.
Whilst these reductions are welcome, the Government is determined to go further. We are driving work with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), which brings together industry representatives, policing and law enforcement agencies to tackle metal theft. The NICRP promotes intelligence sharing, targeted enforcement, and the implementation of crime prevention strategies across forces. To date, the Partnership has delivered training to 2,000 police officers and facilitates the sharing of data and intelligence among partners to support efforts to identify and disrupt offenders.
There is close cooperation between police, Environment Agency and other enforcement bodies in dealing with facilities such as scrap yards, as there are significant overlaps between environmental, acquisitive, and other types of crime. The Environment Agency is increasingly looking at the financial aspects of offending.
The Government is also prioritising reducing the profitability of acquisitive crime. We will continue to work with the police to better understand the disposal routes used to sell stolen goods and the Home Office will continue to work with other Government departments and online sites such as eBay, Gumtree and Meta (Facebook) to inform what more can be done to tackle the stolen goods market.
Whilst Immigration Enforcement does not have any primary responsibility in the licencing of scrap metal dealing, or in tackling unlicenced scrap metal dealing, it discharges its duties in line with the law.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to protect workers travelling home late at night who are at risk of sexual violence.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government will treat tackling violence against women and girls as a national emergency and will use every tool to target perpetrators and address the root causes of violence on our streets.
We want women to feel safe and will use every lever to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade, across the whole of government, with policing and other experts.
To make our streets safe, we must drastically reduce serious violent crime and violence against women and girls, increase confidence in the police, stop young people falling into crime, and make our criminal justice system work for victims.
No one should ever have to face the risk of violence or harassment when travelling. This government is taking action to make sure our transport network is safe for all. The Department for Transport is working closely with transport partners, including the British Transport Police, on a range of initiatives to address the problems faced by different users, including women and girls, on the transport network.