Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to help prevent catalytic converter theft.

The Home Office does not hold data on the number of catalytic converter thefts reported in the last 12 months, or information on the number of arrests and charges for theft of catalytic converters from motor vehicles centrally.

We are continuing to work closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group to tackle vehicle-related thefts. Actions include working with manufacturers of vehicles most susceptible to catalytic converter thefts, and increasing awareness and intelligence-sharing amongst police.

We also provided seed corn funding to the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership, which is ensuring national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft, including the theft of catalytic converters. Through this Partnership, national enforcement activity has been carried out to disrupt organised crime, train hundreds of law enforcement officers, investigate and shut down illegal scrap metal and waste sites, recover stolen and forensically mark catalytic converters to deter thefts.