Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with Police and Crime Commissioners since her letter to PCCs and Chief Constables setting out that the theft of goods valued up to £200 from a shop should be prosecuted as a criminal offence.

I wrote to all chief constables and Police and Crime Commissioners in September 2020, stating that section 176 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 does not constrain the ability of the police to arrest or prosecute someone for shop theft in the way they feel is most appropriate, and urging them to consider the impact on local shops when dealing with this crime type. It is for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service to decide on individual cases.