Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the merits of increasing penalties for electric cable theft.

Theft, including the theft of cables, is a serious crime and this Government recognises the distress and disruption it can cause, not only to businesses, but also to local communities and critical infrastructure.

The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 was introduced to reduce metal theft by strengthening regulation of the scrap metal industry. The Act requires scrap metal dealers to obtain a licence from their local authority and to verify the identity of those selling the scrap metal; it also bans dealers from paying cash.

Following introduction of the Act, there was an overall downward trend in metal-related theft offences. The latest figures for the year ending March 2024 are 64% lower than in the previous year.

Furthermore, the sentencing guidelines on theft have been amended to highlight that where theft causes disruption to infrastructure, this should be taken into account when assessing the harm.

We work closely with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership who bring together industry and policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft, including cable theft, by sharing intelligence to target offenders and implementing crime prevention measures.

We are also delivering on our commitment to put 13,000 neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities.