Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps (a) the police and (b) immigration enforcement are taking to prevent unlicensed scrap metal dealing.

The Government recognises that metal theft can cause significant distress and disruption, not only in terms of financial loss to businesses but also to people’s sense of safety and security in their local communities. Police recorded metal theft offences have been falling since the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. This legislation was introduced to reverse what was then a rising trend by strengthening regulation of the metal recycling sector and making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal.

Whilst these reductions are welcome, the Government is determined to go further. We are driving work with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), which brings together industry representatives, policing and law enforcement agencies to tackle metal theft. The NICRP promotes intelligence sharing, targeted enforcement, and the implementation of crime prevention strategies across forces. To date, the Partnership has delivered training to 2,000 police officers and facilitates the sharing of data and intelligence among partners to support efforts to identify and disrupt offenders.

There is close cooperation between police, Environment Agency and other enforcement bodies in dealing with facilities such as scrap yards, as there are significant overlaps between environmental, acquisitive, and other types of crime. The Environment Agency is increasingly looking at the financial aspects of offending.

The Government is also prioritising reducing the profitability of acquisitive crime. We will continue to work with the police to better understand the disposal routes used to sell stolen goods and the Home Office will continue to work with other Government departments and online sites such as eBay, Gumtree and Meta (Facebook) to inform what more can be done to tackle the stolen goods market.

Whilst Immigration Enforcement does not have any primary responsibility in the licencing of scrap metal dealing, or in tackling unlicenced scrap metal dealing, it discharges its duties in line with the law.