Catalytic Converters: Theft

(asked on 8th November 2021) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Metropolitan Police on the theft of catalytic converters.


Answered by
Kit Malthouse Portrait
Kit Malthouse
This question was answered on 19th November 2021

The Government is committed to tackling the theft of catalytic converters, working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, established by the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime and overseen by the Government’s Crime and Justice Taskforce, to determine what more can be done. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is represented on the Working Group, and discussions between the Home Office and MPS are ongoing about local policing operations.

In December 2017, the Home Office published a review of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. The review took into account views from a range of interested parties and found the measures in the 2013 Act had been effective in addressing metal theft and should be retained. A copy of the review is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-the-scrap-metal-dealers-act-2013.

Enforcement of the 2013 Act is key to tackling this crime. The Government funded the set-up of the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), which ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft, including the theft of catalytic converters. The partnership has provided training to law enforcement and other partner agencies, shares intelligence to target offenders, and implements crime prevention measures. The British Transport Police, through the NICRP, has conducted two national weeks of actions, which resulted in 64 arrests, over 1,400 stopped vehicles and over 1,000 catalytic converters and other items of stolen property were recovered.

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