Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he has taken to prevent violence and abuse targeted at people experiencing rough sleeping.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The streets can never be a place of safety for people sleeping rough and accommodation provides the safety and security needed for individuals to engage positively with support services. That is why the Government published the strategy Ending rough sleeping for good in September 2022 and is investing almost £2.4 billion from 2022 to 2025 to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - South Staffordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to support shop workers who are victims of retail crime.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the significant impact crime can have, not only on businesses but also the wider community and consumers. I have been clear I expect a zero-tolerance approach to retail crime and shoplifting and have recently taken significant steps to improve the police response.
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, the police will run this through the Police National Database to aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals.
This builds on the NPCC commitment that police forces across England and Wales will follow up all crimes where there is actionable evidence and the chance of identifying an offender.
In 2022, we introduced 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.
These legislative and operational changes will go a long way to provide a better response to victims. We are continuing to work closely with retail businesses, security representatives, trade associations and policing through the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) to ensure the response to retail crime is as robust as it can be for the victims of this crime.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2024 to Question 15436 on Prison Officers: Crimes of Violence, if he will publish the data on method of attack against (a) prison officers and (b) all staff, broken down by victim.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We publish statistics on the number of total assaults, broken down by type of weapon, as part of our Safety in Custody statistics.
Our statisticians regularly review the content of publications and welcome feedback. Development of new and improved statistical outputs is usually dependent on reallocating existing resources. As part of our continual review and prioritisation, we will consider publishing assaults with weapons by victim type.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2024 to Question 15436, whether assaults by razor are counted under (a) knife/blade or (b) other sharp instrument.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Assaults by razor should be counted in knife/blade, as the definition is “an object with a sharp edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces, skin, material”. However, as there is no formal reference to razors, we expect that some may also be in the ‘other sharp instrument’ category, defined as “objects or instruments which are able to cut, prick, cause injury and / or infection e.g.,needle, broken glass” and the ‘other’ category.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions there have been under the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 in each of the last two years.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of offenders convicted for offences relating to assault on emergency worker, covering the period requested. The latest data available, up to the year ending June 2023, can be obtained with the following data tool: Outcomes by Offence tool: June 2023.
In the data tool, navigate to ‘Prosecutions and Convictions’ tab and select ‘8.22 Assault of an emergency worker’ in the ‘Offence’ filter.
The pivot table will present the total number of offenders convicted for assaulting an emergency worker since year ending June 2011, including the requested last two years.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle (a) violence and abuse against shopworkers and (b) shoplifting.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the significant impact shoplifting has on businesses, communities, and consumers. The Crime Survey for England and Wales shows neighbourhood crime is down 51% compared to findings from the year ending March 2010.
However, Police Recorded Crime figures show shoplifting offences increased by 32% in the 12 months to September 2023. Statistics also show the number of people charged with shoplifting offences has risen by 34% in the year ending September 2023, showing that police are taking action.
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. We have recently made significant steps to improve the police response to retail crime, including shoplifting and violence and abuse against retail workers.
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.
This builds on the NPCC commitment that police forces across England and Wales will follow up all crimes where there is actionable evidence and the chance of identifying an offender, including shoplifting.
October also saw the launch of Pegasus, a unique private-public partnership, which involves retailers providing data, intelligence and evidence to Opal, the national police intelligence unit on organised acquisitive crime, to develop a better strategic picture and help forces crack down on serious offenders.
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.
We are continuing to work closely with retail businesses, security representatives, trade associations and policing through the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) to ensure the response to retail crime, including shoplifting, is as robust as it can be.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on prison officers have involved razors in the last year.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of assaults on prison officers involving razors in the last year could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The number of assaults on prison officers involving razors which have resulted in hospitalisation in the last year could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The number of assaults on prison officers involving razors that have resulted in prison officers leaving the service in the last year could also only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
We are committed to making prisons safe places to work and recognise the risks associated with the current wet shave razor provision. In the 2021 Prison Safety White Paper we committed to trial alternatives to wet shave razors, and during 2022 and 2023 six pilots have been carried out in the male estate and one in the female estate. The evaluation of these pilots will conclude in March 2024 and will inform decisions about future shaving provision in prisons.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on prison officers involving razors have resulted in prison officers leaving the service in the last year.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of assaults on prison officers involving razors in the last year could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The number of assaults on prison officers involving razors which have resulted in hospitalisation in the last year could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The number of assaults on prison officers involving razors that have resulted in prison officers leaving the service in the last year could also only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
We are committed to making prisons safe places to work and recognise the risks associated with the current wet shave razor provision. In the 2021 Prison Safety White Paper we committed to trial alternatives to wet shave razors, and during 2022 and 2023 six pilots have been carried out in the male estate and one in the female estate. The evaluation of these pilots will conclude in March 2024 and will inform decisions about future shaving provision in prisons.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on prison officers involving razors have resulted in hospitalisation in the last year.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of assaults on prison officers involving razors in the last year could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The number of assaults on prison officers involving razors which have resulted in hospitalisation in the last year could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The number of assaults on prison officers involving razors that have resulted in prison officers leaving the service in the last year could also only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
We are committed to making prisons safe places to work and recognise the risks associated with the current wet shave razor provision. In the 2021 Prison Safety White Paper we committed to trial alternatives to wet shave razors, and during 2022 and 2023 six pilots have been carried out in the male estate and one in the female estate. The evaluation of these pilots will conclude in March 2024 and will inform decisions about future shaving provision in prisons.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information does his Department collect on the method of attack used against prison officers following an assault.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We publish statistics on the number of total assaults, broken down by type of weapon, as part of our Safety in Custody statistics. Table 3.10 at this link includes figures for assaults by weapon: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65b0e9f0f2718c0014fb1c2a/safety-in-custody-assaults-dec-22.xlsx.
The categories in the linked table above are what the MoJ collects on the method of attack.
We also hold data broken down by victim of these assaults, which we hold for staff, including for prison officers only.
Please note that assaults on staff are a subset of all assault incidents. Some assault incidents may be recorded as both a prisoner-on-prisoner assault and an assault on staff. Therefore, a breakdown of incidents involving weapons may also include some incidents where a weapon was used to assault a prisoner, but a staff member was also assaulted during the incident without the use of a weapon. It would not be possible to differentiate these incidents and produce a table of incidents where a weapon was used to assault a staff member, without review of the free text describing each incident