Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of rural crime in 2022.

This Government is committed to driving down rural crime. Our manifesto committed us to use police resources to tackle rural crime, and as at 31 December 2022, 16,753 additional uplift officers have been recruited in England and Wales through the Police Uplift Programme. We are on target to recruit 20,000 additional officers by March 2023, taking us for the first time to over 148,000 officers across England and Wales. This is unprecedented and reflects the biggest recruitment drive in decades, and will help ensure the public is better protected, including in rural communities.

We are also taking steps to address issues that we know affect rural communities. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act empowers and equips the police and courts with the powers they need to combat hare coursing, and the Government is supporting the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Bill, which aims to prevent the theft of quad bikes and All-Terrain Vehicles. The Government is also providing funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) estimates that in 2021 rural theft cost the UK £40.5m, based on their insurance claim statistics.