Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle the increase in shoplifting.

Shoplifting has increased to an unacceptable level in recent years, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers to do this. We will not stand for this. Everybody has a right to feel safe on the job.

This Government will end the effective immunity, introduced by the previous Government, granted to low level shoplifting of goods under £200. We will also introduce a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.

We welcome operational commitments made by the police in its October 2023 Retail Crime Action Plan. NPCC Retail Crime Action Plan

The plan contains a commitment for police across England and Wales to prioritise attendance where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured by police personnel.