Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 on sole traders.
The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 which introduced a regulatory licensing scheme for scrap metal dealers that had seen a significant reduction in metal theft from 62,457 offences in 2012/13 to 16,155 in 2015/16.
The provisions contained in the legislation have been generally welcomed and supported by industry partners and sole traders and there are tough measures in the legislation to tackle the activities of those who operate outside the law.