Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the extent of (a) violence towards and (b) abuse of (i) shop staff and (ii) volunteers in the charity retail sector.

Police recorded crime figures recorded 430,104 shoplifting offences for year ending December 2023, an increase by 37% in the 12 months leading up to. The British Retail Consortium Crime Report 2024 showed there were around 475,000 incidents of violence and abuse in 2022-23. Shoplifting continues to increase at an unsatisfactory level, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers to do this. Violence and abusive behaviour towards any worker, particularly those who provide a valuable service to the public, is never acceptable. The Government will not stand for this.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, the Government will introduce a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We will also end the effective immunity that has been granted to low level shoplifting of goods under £200.