Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to with retailers in Essex to increase (a) the provision of security personnel and (b) local police presence in stores to help deter (i) violence and (ii) abuse against staff.

Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers. We will not stand for this.

This Government is committed to effectively tackling retail crime. In the Crime and Policing Bill, introduced to Parliament on 25 February, we brought a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We are also repealing 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.

There were 44,048 shoplifting offences recorded by the police in the East of England region in the year ending September 2024, a 19% increase on the previous year (37,166 offences). This was a 41% increase when compared with the year ending March 2010 (31,154 offences).

There were 13,266 shoplifting offences recorded by Essex police in the year ending September 2024, a 20% increase on the previous year (11,101 offences). This was a 44% increase when compared with the year ending March 2010 (9,190 offences).

We will provide £100,000 additional funding next financial year for the National Police Chiefs' Council to give further training to police and retailers on prevention tactics, as well as investing £2 million over the next three years in the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC), which provides a resource for both police and businesses to learn, share and support each other.

I chair the Retail Crime Forum to ensure we understand the needs of all retailers and to promote collaboration between the retail sector, security providers and law enforcement.