Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce the levels of abuse towards retail workers in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.

Driving down retail crime is top priority for this Government.

We are supporting police forces, including in Buckingham and Bletchley, by strengthening neighbourhood policing so officers can focus on local priorities such as shoplifting. The Government recognises the importance of visible neighbourhood policing in deterring crime.

We will deliver 13,000 additional neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament. By February 2026 we had delivered more than 3,100 additional police officers and PCSOs into neighbourhood roles. The first-year growth target was first exceeded in January 2026, two months ahead of schedule.

We are also giving the police the powers they need and have strengthened the law through the Crime and Policing Act, introducing a new offence of assaulting a retail worker and removing the £200 threshold for shop theft.