Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce incidences of knife crime against shop workers.

Tackling knife crime is a priority for the Government. Our work to tackle knife crime is centred on four key strands – working with the police on operations and enforcement, work on the legislative framework, work with retailers on responsible sales, and early intervention and prevention. All this work is designed to protect the public wherever they are and wherever they work.

All acts of violence and abuse against retail staff are serious matters whenever and wherever they occur. All such incidents should be reported to the police and taken seriously, investigated and, where appropriate, the perpetrators taken through the courts and met with tough sentences.

At the national level, we are working with the police and the retail sector to identify what more can be done to prevent and respond to violence and abuse against retail staff, as part of the work of the National Retail Crime Steering Group. The Steering Group is jointly chaired by the Home Office and the British Retail Consortium.