Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 23 March 2017 to Question 68460, what progress has been made on (a) better understanding the extent and scale of crimes involving acid and (b) work with retailers to explore what action can be taken to control sales of products with a high acidic content.

We are working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on the scale and nature of attacks with acid and other corrosive substances and how to respond to such attacks.

The Home Office and the National Police Chiefs’ Council jointly hosted a meeting on 4 July with medical experts, police, retailers, and officials from a number of Government departments and agencies to share understanding about the nature of attacks and discussed action being taken by the respective agencies. We are currently considering with retailers what action can be taken to restrict access to the most harmful products used in acid and other corrosive substance attacks.