Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prosecutions have been bought under section 146 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 in relation to the resale of scrap metal in the last five years.

Section 146 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 ‘Offence of buying scrap metal for cash etc’ was repealed by the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 under Section 12, with legislation of Section 12 now including the offences applicable to the purchasing of scrap metal.

The Ministry of Justice publishes a time series of information on the number of defendants prosecuted for offences under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 (offence code 19534), in the following tool:

• Outcomes by Offence data tool

A breakdown of prosecutions for offences under Section 12 of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, related to paying cash for scrap metal within the last five years, has been provided in Table 1 on a principal offence basis for all courts in England and Wales.