Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the financial impact of rural crime on the agriculture sector in Norfolk.

We are committed to stamping out crime and disorder in rural areas and we will ensure countryside communities blighted by organised crime, rural theft and antisocial behaviour will be protected.

The Home Office provided a startup grant of £300,000 to set up the National Rural Crime Unit (NRCU).

The NRCU supports forces nationally in their responses to rural crime, such as the theft of farming or construction machinery, livestock theft, rural fly tipping, rural fuel theft and equine crime. The unit aims to help police forces tackle rural crime priorities through the provision of specialist operational support, as well as through sharing best practice and encouraging regional and national approaches to tackling rural crime. The NRCU helps police across the country tackle organised theft and disrupt organised crime groups, as well as working closely with the National Crime Agency.

The Home Office also directly funds the National Wildlife Crime Unit to provide intelligence, analysis and investigative assistance to forces and other law enforcement agencies across the UK to support them in investigating wildlife crime which can affect the agriculture sector.