Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to protect shopworkers from violence and abuse by customers in their place of work.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government is clear that violence and abuse towards any worker is not acceptable.
Last year we introduced a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing workers via section 156 of the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This applies in cases of assault where an offence is committed against those performing a public duty or providing a service to the public. This legislative change ensures the courts treat the public-facing nature of a victim’s role as an aggravating factor when considering the sentence for an offence.
The Home Office continues to work closely with retailers, trade associations and the police through the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) to encourage retailers to work with police so that crimes are effectively dealt with at a local level. The NRCSG has produced practical resources to assist retailers to report crimes when they occur. These are available here.
The Home Office-funded #ShopKind campaign is also key to getting the message across that violence and abuse towards retail workers across the country will not be tolerated. The campaign asks the public to consider their behaviour and shop with kindness.
Police recorded offences in England and Wales (excluding Devon and Cornwall) for shoplifting and all theft offences for year ending December 2022 are showing a fall of 12% and 13% respectively compared with the pre-pandemic period of March 2020.
Volumes data for shoplifting from police recorded crime (PRC) data should be interpreted with caution due to under reporting of shoplifting. Therefore, the volumes presented here are likely to underestimate the true level of shoplifting.
Across England and Wales we now have the highest number of police officers on record with over 149,500 officers.
As a result of the unprecedented police recruitment drive we have recruited over 20,000 additional officers. That means that there are now over 3,500 more officers in England and Wales than the previous peak in 2010.
Mentions:
1: Simpson, Graham (Con - Central Scotland) Business owners, retail staff, shoppers and residents in Bruntsfield and Morningside have experienced - Speech Link
2: Johnson, Daniel (Lab - Edinburgh Southern) The problem is not confined to bus travel; retail crime and violence against retail workers are other - Speech Link
3: Dowey, Sharon (Con - South Scotland) However, the Confederation of Passenger Transport Scotland, which is the trade association for the bus - Speech Link
4: Hyslop, Fiona (SNP - Linlithgow) against gender-based violence with a workshop on women and girls’ safety on public transport. - Speech Link
May. 13 2009
Source Page: Safe, sensible, social: selling alcohol responsibly. A consultation on the new code of practice for alcohol retailers. 83 p.Found: A consultation on the new code of practice for alcohol retailers. 83 p.
Mentions:
1: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer) murder, collective punishment, ethnic cleansing and war crimes. - Speech Link
2: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bshp - Bishops) has had in the form of loss of jobs in the food, retail and hospitality sectors, which disproportionately - Speech Link
3: Baroness Chakrabarti (Lab - Life peer) and transforming the face of our trade unions better to reflect our rapidly changing world of work. - Speech Link
4: Baroness Thornton (Lab - Life peer) been a victim of these horribly intimate and undermining crimes. - Speech Link
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the introduction of the aggravating factor for attacks on public facing workers on levels of retail crime.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government is clear that violent and abusive behaviour towards any worker, particularly those who provide a valuable service to the public, is never acceptable.
In 2022, we took the significant step to introduce a statutory aggravating factor for assault against those who are serving the public. Section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 means the public facing nature of a victim’s role will be considered an aggravating factor when it comes to sentencing for assault offences, allowing the court to give a longer sentence within the statutory maximum for the offence.
Assaults against retail workers are not separately identifiable in police recorded crime data held centrally by the Home Office.
The Government shares concerns about the level of assaults against retailers. In October 2023, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the Retail Crime Action Plan. Through this Plan, all forces across England and Wales have committed to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. Additionally, where CCTV or other digital images are secured, police will run this through the Police National Database to aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals.
The longer-term impact of the Action Plan will continue to be monitored; however, retailers have reported early signs of improvement in the police response to retail crime and according to data collected by the NPCC from a dip sample of forces in December 2023, police attended 60% of crimes reported by retailers where violence had been used, with 16% of forces sampled reporting 100% attendance to this type of incident: Policing Retail Crime Action Plan shows early impact (npcc.police.uk).
Oral Evidence Feb. 06 2024
Committee: Foreign Affairs Committee (Department: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)Found: violence.
Oral Evidence Feb. 06 2024
Committee: Foreign Affairs Committee (Department: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)Found: violence.
Oral Evidence Feb. 06 2024
Committee: Foreign Affairs Committee (Department: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)Found: violence.
Oral Evidence Feb. 06 2024
Committee: Foreign Affairs Committee (Department: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)Found: violence.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will discuss attacks on employees in the retail sector at the next meeting of the National Retail Crime Steering Group.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government is clear that violent and abusive behaviour towards any worker, particularly those who provide a valuable service to the public, is never acceptable.
The National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG), which I co-chair alongside the British Retail Consortium, ensures the response to retail crime is as robust as it can be. The NRCSG meets quarterly and comprises senior representatives from policing, the retail sector, retail trade associations, security providers and Government departments. Violence and abuse towards retail workers will be discussed at the next NRCSG.
In October, the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Retail Crime Action Plan was launched, which includes a commitment to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. These are substantial commitments, and I will use the NRCSG to hold police to account, whilst also ensuring retailers are playing their part by providing evidence of shoplifting and violence and abuse to police.
In 2022, the Government took the significant step to introduce a statutory aggravating factor for assault against those who are serving the public. Section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 means the public facing nature of a victim’s role will be considered an aggravating factor when it comes to sentencing for assault offences, allowing the court to give a longer sentence within the statutory maximum for the offence.