Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce incidences of freight crime.

We fully recognise the serious and growing threat that freight crime poses to businesses, drivers, and the wider economy. This Government is determined to crack down on it. The incidences of freight crime, where criminals rip the sides of lorries and take the goods inside, is frightening for those dedicated HGV drivers across the UK, and the perception this crime is low risk and high reward is unacceptable.

There are strong links between freight crime and serious organised crime, which is a major threat to the national security and prosperity of the UK and estimated to cost the economy at least £47 billion annually.

This Government is committed to tackling serious and organised crime in all its forms. We work closely with Opal, the police’s national intelligence unit focused on serious organised acquisitive crime, which has multiple thematic desks, including a vehicle crime intelligence desk which covers freight crime.

We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies and other invested stakeholders to change the unacceptable perception that freight crime is low risk and high reward and find solutions which will tackle it.