Asked by: Lord Davies of Gower (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many incidents of shoplifting were recorded in each of the past five years; and how many resulted in a charge or summons.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of notifiable offences and their outcomes.
The table below show the volume of the shop theft offences outcomes recorded by the police in the years from 2020 to 2024 and how many of those resulted in a charge or summons.
Table 1: Shoplifting offences recorded by the police from 2020 to 2024, and those resulting in charge/summons, England and Wales [Note: 1] | |||
Calendar year (offence recorded) | Shoplifting offences | Charged/Summonsed | % |
2020 | 254,547 | 44,969 | 18% |
2021 | 256,198 | 39,353 | 15% |
2022 | 315,052 | 48,268 | 15% |
2023 | 429,873 | 72,144 | 17% |
2024 | 516,971 | 93,156 | 18% |
1. Figures for the period January to March 2020 exclude Greater Manchester police (GMP) | |||
as they were unable to provide full data to the Home Office Data Hub (HODH) in this period. | |||
Asked by: Lord Davies of Gower (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Hanson of Flint on 10 July (HL Deb col 1487), whether there have been any instances of the General Data Protection Regulation or other data protection legislation preventing the Home Office from removing foreign criminals from the UK.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK’s data protection legislation allows for personal data to be processed to pursue legitimate aims.
In particular, the international transfers regimes, which this Government recently improved through the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, allows for personal data to be transferred to third countries where that is necessary for important reasons of public interest, including for immigration control and law enforcement.
Asked by: Lord Davies of Gower (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the prevalence of the underreporting of (1) domestic abuse, (2) sexual violence, and (3) hate crimes.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The best measure of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), including domestic abuse and sexual violence, is prevalence as reported through the CSEW because this is anonymous, includes crimes not reported to the police and is unaffected by changes in levels of reporting to the police or police recording practices.
The gap between police reports of domestic abuse and sexual violence and the number of victims and survivors estimated by the CSEW means there is a significant number of unidentified cases.
As part of our unprecedented mission to tackle the national emergency of VAWG we have worked with the ONS to develop a new combined metric to better capture the scale of these crimes for the first time.
For our forthcoming Strategy for tackling Violence Against Women and Girls we will use a broad suite of metrics to provide a more comprehensive understanding of VAWG across Government and society.
Asked by: Lord Davies of Gower (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of reported shoplifting offences result in police attendance.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Data published by the NPCC (Policing Retail Crime Action Plan shows early impact), from a dip sample of 1,500 shoplifting incidents in December 2023, show that police attended:
Our Safer Streets Summer Initiative will see increased police patrols and local action in over 500 town centres this summer. As part of our Safer Streets Mission, we are committed to restoring neighbourhood policing, and as a result of our £200 million investment, we will see an additional 3,000 neighbourhood officers and PCSOs on the beat in communities across the country this year.
In the Crime and Policing Bill, introduced to Parliament on 25 February, we brought a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We are also repealing legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.
To help tackle retail crime, we will provide £5 million over the next three years to continue to fund a specialist analysis team within Opal, the national policing intelligence unit for serious organised acquisitive crime.
We will also invest £2 million over the next three years in the National Business Crime Centre which provides a resource for both police and businesses to learn, share and support each other to prevent and combat crime.
Asked by: Lord Davies of Gower (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure the full participation of local authorities in Bradford and Wales in their inquiry into grooming gangs.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government continues to focus on delivering real change for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation.
I refer the Noble Lord to the statements made by the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls on 08 April and Lord Hanson of Flint on 22 April 2025, which provided an update on the Government's work to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation, including progress on the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). IICSA, led by Professor Alexis Jay, was a full national inquiry taking 7 years, which engaged over 7,000 victims and survivors, and had 15 separate strands, including a specific two-year inquiry into child sexual exploitation by organised networks.
Victims, survivors and experts, including Alexis Jay, have been clear that they want to see action now. That means protecting more children, pursuing more criminals, and getting justice for more victims and survivors. That is why we are delivering on the package of measures announced by the Home Secretary in January, including expanding the victims’ right to review and asking all police forces to review historic grooming cases that were closed with ‘No Further Action’. We are also developing a new national best practice framework for victim-centred, locally-led inquiries, drawing on the experience of experts, including victims and survivors. Further details will be provided later this month.
Alongside that, we will set out how local authorities can access support for independent local inquiries or related work through a national fund. The Home Secretary has commissioned Baroness Louise Casey to conduct an audit to improve national understanding of the scale, nature, and profile of group-based child sexual abuse, including the characteristics of offenders. The audit is well underway and will report to the Home Secretary in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Lord Davies of Gower (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the influence of racial and religious aggravation in instances of child sexual abuse.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government continues to focus on delivering real change for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation.
I refer the Noble Lord to the statements made by the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls on 08 April and Lord Hanson of Flint on 22 April 2025, which provided an update on the Government's work to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation, including progress on the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). IICSA, led by Professor Alexis Jay, was a full national inquiry taking 7 years, which engaged over 7,000 victims and survivors, and had 15 separate strands, including a specific two-year inquiry into child sexual exploitation by organised networks.
Victims, survivors and experts, including Alexis Jay, have been clear that they want to see action now. That means protecting more children, pursuing more criminals, and getting justice for more victims and survivors. That is why we are delivering on the package of measures announced by the Home Secretary in January, including expanding the victims’ right to review and asking all police forces to review historic grooming cases that were closed with ‘No Further Action’. We are also developing a new national best practice framework for victim-centred, locally-led inquiries, drawing on the experience of experts, including victims and survivors. Further details will be provided later this month.
Alongside that, we will set out how local authorities can access support for independent local inquiries or related work through a national fund. The Home Secretary has commissioned Baroness Louise Casey to conduct an audit to improve national understanding of the scale, nature, and profile of group-based child sexual abuse, including the characteristics of offenders. The audit is well underway and will report to the Home Secretary in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Lord Davies of Gower (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect the National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse to publish its final written report.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government continues to focus on delivering real change for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation.
I refer the Noble Lord to the statements made by the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls on 08 April and Lord Hanson of Flint on 22 April 2025, which provided an update on the Government's work to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation, including progress on the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). IICSA, led by Professor Alexis Jay, was a full national inquiry taking 7 years, which engaged over 7,000 victims and survivors, and had 15 separate strands, including a specific two-year inquiry into child sexual exploitation by organised networks.
Victims, survivors and experts, including Alexis Jay, have been clear that they want to see action now. That means protecting more children, pursuing more criminals, and getting justice for more victims and survivors. That is why we are delivering on the package of measures announced by the Home Secretary in January, including expanding the victims’ right to review and asking all police forces to review historic grooming cases that were closed with ‘No Further Action’. We are also developing a new national best practice framework for victim-centred, locally-led inquiries, drawing on the experience of experts, including victims and survivors. Further details will be provided later this month.
Alongside that, we will set out how local authorities can access support for independent local inquiries or related work through a national fund. The Home Secretary has commissioned Baroness Louise Casey to conduct an audit to improve national understanding of the scale, nature, and profile of group-based child sexual abuse, including the characteristics of offenders. The audit is well underway and will report to the Home Secretary in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Lord Davies of Gower (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits of a national inquiry into group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government continues to focus on delivering real change for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation.
I refer the Noble Lord to the statements made by the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls on 08 April and Lord Hanson of Flint on 22 April 2025, which provided an update on the Government's work to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation, including progress on the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). IICSA, led by Professor Alexis Jay, was a full national inquiry taking 7 years, which engaged over 7,000 victims and survivors, and had 15 separate strands, including a specific two-year inquiry into child sexual exploitation by organised networks.
Victims, survivors and experts, including Alexis Jay, have been clear that they want to see action now. That means protecting more children, pursuing more criminals, and getting justice for more victims and survivors. That is why we are delivering on the package of measures announced by the Home Secretary in January, including expanding the victims’ right to review and asking all police forces to review historic grooming cases that were closed with ‘No Further Action’. We are also developing a new national best practice framework for victim-centred, locally-led inquiries, drawing on the experience of experts, including victims and survivors. Further details will be provided later this month.
Alongside that, we will set out how local authorities can access support for independent local inquiries or related work through a national fund. The Home Secretary has commissioned Baroness Louise Casey to conduct an audit to improve national understanding of the scale, nature, and profile of group-based child sexual abuse, including the characteristics of offenders. The audit is well underway and will report to the Home Secretary in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Lord Davies of Gower (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to deliver additional police apprenticeships.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship is one of four entry routes available to candidates interested in becoming a warranted police officer. It is a popular Level 6 (degree) apprenticeship across England and Wales. The Government is committed to ensuring apprenticeships remain an attractive option to candidates interested in the police service and the Home Office regularly engages with the Department of Education who hold overall responsibility for apprenticeship policy.
Asked by: Lord Davies of Gower (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the raid on the Westminster Quaker Meeting House on 27 March on relations between the Metropolitan Police, the Religious Society of Friends and other religious groups.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The use of police powers are a matter for the police, who are operationally independent of Government. The Metropolitan Police have issued a statement about the incident in question, which reads as follows:
“Youth Demand have stated an intention to 'shut down' London over the month of April using tactics including 'swarming' and road blocks. While we absolutely recognise the importance of the right to protest, we have a responsibility to intervene to prevent activity that crosses the line from protest into serious disruption and other criminality. On Thursday, 27 March officers raided a Youth Demand planning meeting at an address in Westminster where those in attendance were plotting their April action. Six people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. Five of those arrested on Thursday have been released on bail and one will face no further action. A further five arrests for the same offence were made on Friday, 28 March. Four of the arrests were at addresses in London and one in Exeter. All five of those arrested on Friday have been released on bail.”