Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of retail crime to the UK economy in 2017; and what steps her Department is taking to tackle retail crime.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government recognises the impact that retail crime has on businesses. The British Retail Consortium, for example, estimated that the direct financial cost of crime to the UK retail industry was £660 million in 2015-16. We do not yet have data for the estimated cost of retail crime to the UK retail industry in 2017.
We work closely with the retail sector through the National Retail Crime Steering Group, which brings together representatives from industry, Government and the Police. This includes the British Retail Consortium and the Association of Convenience Stores to understand better the crime issues that affect the sector and how we can best work together to prevent and respond to these crimes.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce incidences of knife crime against shop workers.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Tackling knife crime is a priority for the Government. Our work to tackle knife crime is centred on four key strands – working with the police on operations and enforcement, work on the legislative framework, work with retailers on responsible sales, and early intervention and prevention. All this work is designed to protect the public wherever they are and wherever they work.
All acts of violence and abuse against retail staff are serious matters whenever and wherever they occur. All such incidents should be reported to the police and taken seriously, investigated and, where appropriate, the perpetrators taken through the courts and met with tough sentences.
At the national level, we are working with the police and the retail sector to identify what more can be done to prevent and respond to violence and abuse against retail staff, as part of the work of the National Retail Crime Steering Group. The Steering Group is jointly chaired by the Home Office and the British Retail Consortium.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of hostile vehicle mitigation measures in relation to pedicabs.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The police and our security services monitor vehicle attack threats closely, and act on intelligence. All forces have reviewed security measures in place, and additional physical security measures have been put in place at some locations, for example in busy city centres and on bridges. All police forces have access to the National Barrier Asset (NBA), which is a central resource of temporary Hostile Vehicle Mitigation barriers, gates and fences that provide protection against vehicle based attacks.
The Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) provide the guidance and specifications for Hostile Vehicle Mitigation (HVM) where testing of HVM takes into account weight and speed of a vehicle. The NBA is compliant with these specifications.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many pedicab riders have received cautions or arrests for the last twelve months for which records are available.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office does not hold this information centrally.