Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to (a) keep safe, (b) support and (c) protect frontline staff in light of the finding by Usdaw that abusive incidents toward shop workers have doubled since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.

The Government conducted a call for evidence on violence and abuse toward shop staff to understand the extent of the issue and how we can improve the response to these crimes. The formal response was published 7 July 2020 and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/violence-and-abuse-toward-shop-staff-call-for-evidence

To address the actions raised in the call for evidence the Government is working closely with retailers and trade organisations, including Usdaw through the National Retail Crime Steering Group to deliver a programme of work which aims to provide better support to victims, improve reporting, increase data sharing between businesses and police, and raise awareness of this crime among employers and the public.