Asked by: Sarah Edwards (Labour - Tamworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the impact on business of freight crime in (a) England and (b) the West Midlands; and if she will undertake an assessment of trends in the level of freight crime in (i) England and (ii) the West Midlands.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government understands the significant and damaging impact freight crime has on businesses and drivers and we are carefully monitoring the increases in its frequency. The experience of cargo theft, where criminals are ripping the sides of lorries and taking the goods inside, is a highly alarming one for dedicated HGV drivers to go through, and the Government is committed to tackling this crime, and protecting those drivers.
We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders towards those ends, and I recently met with Rachel Taylor MP, and Lilian Greenwood, Minister for the Future of Roads at the Department for Transport (DfT), specifically to discuss freight crime. The DfT also hosts the Freight Council, which regularly discusses crime against freight companies, and which is attended by Home Office officials to engage with the sector on this issue.
We also recognise the strong links between freight crime and serious, organised crime, which is a major threat to our country’s national security and prosperity and is estimated to cost the UK at least £47 billion annually. This Government is committed to tackling serious and organised crime in all its forms, and we are continuing to work closely with Opal, the police’s national intelligence unit focused on serious organised acquisitive crime, which has multiple thematic desks, including a vehicle crime intelligence desk which covers freight crime.
As well as wider offence data, the Home Office collects and publishes data on specific crimes affecting commercial business premises in England and Wales, including premises in the Transport, Accommodation and Food sector, as part of the Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS). Neither data source currently provides the level of detail necessary to separately identify freight crimes, or the number of offences taking place in different regions.
Asked by: Sarah Edwards (Labour - Tamworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support Staffordshire Police to reduce rates of freight crime.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government understands the significant and damaging impact freight crime has on businesses and drivers and we are carefully monitoring the increases in its frequency. The experience of cargo theft, where criminals are ripping the sides of lorries and taking the goods inside, is a highly alarming one for dedicated HGV drivers to go through, and the Government is committed to tackling this crime, and protecting those drivers.
We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders towards those ends, and I recently met with Rachel Taylor MP, and Lilian Greenwood, Minister for the Future of Roads at the Department for Transport (DfT), specifically to discuss freight crime. The DfT also hosts the Freight Council, which regularly discusses crime against freight companies, and which is attended by Home Office officials to engage with the sector on this issue.
We also recognise the strong links between freight crime and serious, organised crime, which is a major threat to our country’s national security and prosperity and is estimated to cost the UK at least £47 billion annually. This Government is committed to tackling serious and organised crime in all its forms, and we are continuing to work closely with Opal, the police’s national intelligence unit focused on serious organised acquisitive crime, which has multiple thematic desks, including a vehicle crime intelligence desk which covers freight crime.
As well as wider offence data, the Home Office collects and publishes data on specific crimes affecting commercial business premises in England and Wales, including premises in the Transport, Accommodation and Food sector, as part of the Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS). Neither data source currently provides the level of detail necessary to separately identify freight crimes, or the number of offences taking place in different regions.
Asked by: Sarah Edwards (Labour - Tamworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department plans to take to tackle freight crime.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government understands the significant and damaging impact freight crime has on businesses and drivers and we are carefully monitoring the increases in its frequency. The experience of cargo theft, where criminals are ripping the sides of lorries and taking the goods inside, is a highly alarming one for dedicated HGV drivers to go through, and the Government is committed to tackling this crime, and protecting those drivers.
We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders towards those ends, and I recently met with Rachel Taylor MP, and Lilian Greenwood, Minister for the Future of Roads at the Department for Transport (DfT), specifically to discuss freight crime. The DfT also hosts the Freight Council, which regularly discusses crime against freight companies, and which is attended by Home Office officials to engage with the sector on this issue.
We also recognise the strong links between freight crime and serious, organised crime, which is a major threat to our country’s national security and prosperity and is estimated to cost the UK at least £47 billion annually. This Government is committed to tackling serious and organised crime in all its forms, and we are continuing to work closely with Opal, the police’s national intelligence unit focused on serious organised acquisitive crime, which has multiple thematic desks, including a vehicle crime intelligence desk which covers freight crime.
As well as wider offence data, the Home Office collects and publishes data on specific crimes affecting commercial business premises in England and Wales, including premises in the Transport, Accommodation and Food sector, as part of the Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS). Neither data source currently provides the level of detail necessary to separately identify freight crimes, or the number of offences taking place in different regions.
Asked by: Sarah Edwards (Labour - Tamworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to introduce legislation protecting shopworkers from serial or abusive shoplifters.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government’s plan – "Fighting retail crime: more action" was launched on 10 April, and includes a new standalone offence for assaults on retail workers and electronic monitoring for prolific shoplifters. This builds on the police-led Retail Crime Action Plan, launched in October 2023.
We will legislate through the Criminal Justice Bill, currently before Parliament, to introduce a presumption towards electronic monitoring as part of a sentence served in the community for those who repeatedly steal from shops.
The new bespoke offence of assaulting a retail worker will also be introduced via the Criminal Justice Bill. The offence will have a maximum penalty of six months in prison, or an unlimited fine – and upon conviction, it is expected that courts will make a Criminal Behaviour Order, which could bar offenders from visiting affected shops or premises. Breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order is a criminal offence and carries a five-year maximum prison sentence.
Those who repeatedly assault retail workers will be electronically monitored after their third offence, to crack down on reoffending and ensure those continuing down a path of violent behaviour will be met with further consequences. For the most serious violent offenders of assault, custodial sentences of up to five years in prison are already available.
Asked by: Sarah Edwards (Labour - Tamworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many vacancies there are in frontline police roles, including Police Community Support Officers, as of 16 April 2024.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office does not hold data on vacancies in frontline policing roles.
The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the function of police workers (officers, staff, designated officers (S.38) and Police Community Support Officers) as at 31 March each year in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.
This includes information on the number and proportion of police workers in frontline policing roles. Data from 31 March 2021 to 31 March 2023, by worker type, can be found in the ‘Functions Open Data Table’ here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64ba635306f78d000d7426aa/open-data-table-police-workforce-functions-260723.ods. Data for previous years, can be found in Tables F1 to F3 of the data tables accompanying each publication.
Data for the ‘as at 31 March 2024’ publication will be published in July 2024 as part of the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.