Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps his Department has taken to help support the West Midlands Police to prevent car theft in Birmingham.

The Government is committed to tackling vehicle crime.

The Criminal Justice Bill, introduced to Parliament on 14 November, proposes new offences to possess, import, make, adapt, supply or offer to supply an electronic device for use in vehicle theft. This proposed new legislation will make it easier for police to prevent and tackle the theft of vehicles.

The Home Office is working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, chaired by ACC Jennifer Sims, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, to take forward a programme of work to prevent and reduce vehicle crime nationally. This includes training police officers on methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles and working with industry to prevent theft. West Midlands Police is represented on the Working Group.

A network of vehicle crime leads has been established in every police force in England and Wales, ensuring forces share information about emerging trends in vehicle crime and are better able to tackle regional issues.

The Government is pleased to be able to say that through our successful uplift programme, we recruited over 20,000 additional officers and have a record number of officers across forces in England and Wales. 1966 officers have been allocated to West Midlands Police.