Rural Crime

Lord Bishop of St Albans Excerpts

Tuesday 11th July 2023 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[The Lord Bishop of St Albans]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to counter rural crime.

[The Lord Bishop of St Albans]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and declare my interest as president of the Rural Coalition.

[Lord Davies of Gower (Con)]

My Lords, we are committed to driving down rural crime. As well as recruiting 20,000 police officers, we are taking steps to address issues that we know affect rural communities. That is why the Government are providing funding to the National Wildlife Crime Unit and the National Rural Crime Unit.

[The Lord Bishop of St Albans]

I thank the Minister for that reply, but can I press him on rural crime on farms? Reports from the police suggest that there has been a 300% increase in thefts of farm machinery, which is causing devastating problems for our wonderful farming industry. When I asked the Government a Question some time ago about fitting tracker devices to machines, they said they had no plans to do so. Will the Government reconsider that? If not, what will they do to try to solve this very difficult and important problem?

[Lord Davies of Gower (Con)]

I thank the right reverend Prelate for that question. The Government believe that prevention, delivered through partnership with law enforcement and industry, is the key to tackling this crime and protecting these hard-working communities from theft. That is why the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Bill is focused on measures that will make these machines more difficult to steal and sell on, which will deliver a strong and sustainable deterrent effect. The Government expect to see a real decrease in these thefts as a result of the introduction of immobilisers and forensic marking as standard. While trackers can assist in recovering stolen vehicles, many large valuable agricultural vehicles are already fitted with trackers, either as standard or as an aftermarket option for the owner. The Government have no plans to provide grants to farmers who wish to install trackers on their vehicles.