Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether new police recruits will be trained on the impact of (a) waste crime and (b) retail crime on victims in (i) Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency, (ii) Staffordshire and (iii) England and Wales.

This Government is committed to ensuring there are consistent, high standards for training in the police. This will help to maintain public confidence and ensure the workforce is equipped to respond to the crime challenges they face every day.

The College of Policing sets and maintains standards for training and professional development, including initial police education. This includes setting the national policing curriculum for initial training.

The Government has provided funding for the national rollout of the Neighbourhood Policing Pathway. This training will provide all neighbourhood officers and PCSOs with specialist training and will include modules on community engagement, problem-solving and tackling anti-social behaviour.

Under the previous government, shop theft soared to record highs and it continues to increase at an unacceptable level, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers.

As set out in the Autumn Budget 2024, we will provide £100,000 of additional funding next financial year for the National Police Chiefs' Council to give further training to police and retailers on retail crime prevention tactics. This will build on funding this financial year to the Police Crime Prevention Initiatives, for development of training for both police and retailers to help combat retail crime and promote partnership working.

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, introduced on 25 February, this Government has brought forward a new offence of assaulting a retail worker, to protect hardworking and dedicated shop workers, including small and independent retailers. The offence carries a maximum penalty of six months imprisonment and/or unlimited fine, as well as a presumption on the courts to impose a Criminal Behaviour Order. This will prohibit the offender from doing anything described in the order, which might include a condition preventing specific acts which cause harassment, alarm or distress, or preventing an offender from visiting specific premises.

Also included as part of the Bill is the removing of the legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.

The Government is committed to tackling waste crime, which blights communities, damages the environment and undermines legitimate businesses. Waste crime and poor performing waste sites undermine legitimate businesses, deprive the public purse of tax income, harm the environment and communities and in the worst cases directly threaten our health.