Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to stop the reselling of stolen tools.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We recognise the negative impact theft has on victims who rely on the tools of their trade to earn a living, including small businesses.
We are continuing to work with the police-led National Business Crime Centre and industry via the Combined Industries Theft Solutions forum to explore ways to tackle and prevent the theft of tools.
The Police Crime Prevention Initiatives (PCPI) is a not-for-profit, police-owned organisation that works on behalf of Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables to deliver crime prevention and reduction initiatives across the UK. It also provides crime prevention advice: Secured by Design - Vans & Tool Theft.
A key part of making acquisitive crime less attractive to criminals is making stolen goods harder to sell on. That is why we are working closely with policing and academic leads to examine what more can be done to tackle the disposal markets for stolen goods and reduce the profit from acquisitive crime.
The Office for National Statistics publishes estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales on the proportion of incidents that involved tools being stolen in personal theft offences. These estimates are available in Table 3b of Nature of crime: personal and other theft. They provide estimates of theft of tools against individuals, including those who are self-employed but do not cover crimes against commercial premises. These estimates cover England and Wales, but no regional breakdown is available.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support the Government provides to small businesses impacted by tool theft.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We recognise the negative impact theft has on victims who rely on the tools of their trade to earn a living, including small businesses.
We are continuing to work with the police-led National Business Crime Centre and industry via the Combined Industries Theft Solutions forum to explore ways to tackle and prevent the theft of tools.
The Police Crime Prevention Initiatives (PCPI) is a not-for-profit, police-owned organisation that works on behalf of Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables to deliver crime prevention and reduction initiatives across the UK. It also provides crime prevention advice: Secured by Design - Vans & Tool Theft.
A key part of making acquisitive crime less attractive to criminals is making stolen goods harder to sell on. That is why we are working closely with policing and academic leads to examine what more can be done to tackle the disposal markets for stolen goods and reduce the profit from acquisitive crime.
The Office for National Statistics publishes estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales on the proportion of incidents that involved tools being stolen in personal theft offences. These estimates are available in Table 3b of Nature of crime: personal and other theft. They provide estimates of theft of tools against individuals, including those who are self-employed but do not cover crimes against commercial premises. These estimates cover England and Wales, but no regional breakdown is available.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how the pilot rollout of (a) Domestic Abuse Protection Notices and (b) Domestic Abuse Protection Orders in Sutton will be reviewed to assess their effectiveness.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
On 27 November 2024 we launched new Domestic Abuse Protection Notices and Orders (DAPNs/DAPOs) in select areas - specifically Greater Manchester, three London boroughs (Croydon, Bromley and Sutton) and with the British Transport Police. We will soon be going further by onboarding two additional sites in early 2025 to give the greatest possible number of victims access.
The Home Office has commissioned an independent evaluation of DAPNs and DAPOs. The evaluation aims to understand how the new order works in practice and its effectiveness.
For the first time, these orders provide protection for all forms of domestic abuse including coercive or controlling behaviour; have no maximum duration; and can impose electronic monitoring or require attendance to a behaviour change programme.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to provide training for (a) police officers and (b) legal professionals on implementation of new legislation on stalking.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Stalking is an insidious crime that can leave victims living in fear just going about their daily lives. That is why this Government is fully committed to tackling it.
On 3 December the Government announced six new measures to tackle stalking. This included legislating to introduce multi-agency statutory guidance on stalking and providing for the courts to impose Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) on conviction and acquittal of their own volition. We will bring forward legislation to introduce measures at the earliest opportunity.
The College of Policing provides an Authorised Professional Practice (APP) and e-learning on stalking to support the police. This includes guidance on identifying and investigating stalking and applying for and managing SPOs. The guidance and e-learning are being updated to reflect the findings from a recent super-complaint on stalking and will be kept under regular review. The CPS provides guidance for prosecutors with the general principles to be applied when making decisions about prosecutions involving stalking.
We know there is a gap between the prevalence of stalking and stalking offences reported to the police. For example, the Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates 3.1% of adults over 16 experienced stalking in the year ending June 2024 while police recorded 131,912 stalking offences. This is why we are committed to playing a more active role in policing to ensure officers have the right support, to significantly improve standards across the board and to ensure justice is delivered for victims.
Raising awareness of stalking is an important part of this and there are existing examples of local initiatives funded by police forces, Police and Crime Commissioners or local authorities. We are considering how raising awareness of VAWG crimes including stalking could form part of the upcoming new VAWG strategy.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans (a) national and (b) local awareness campaigns on the crime of stalking.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Stalking is an insidious crime that can leave victims living in fear just going about their daily lives. That is why this Government is fully committed to tackling it.
On 3 December the Government announced six new measures to tackle stalking. This included legislating to introduce multi-agency statutory guidance on stalking and providing for the courts to impose Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) on conviction and acquittal of their own volition. We will bring forward legislation to introduce measures at the earliest opportunity.
The College of Policing provides an Authorised Professional Practice (APP) and e-learning on stalking to support the police. This includes guidance on identifying and investigating stalking and applying for and managing SPOs. The guidance and e-learning are being updated to reflect the findings from a recent super-complaint on stalking and will be kept under regular review. The CPS provides guidance for prosecutors with the general principles to be applied when making decisions about prosecutions involving stalking.
We know there is a gap between the prevalence of stalking and stalking offences reported to the police. For example, the Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates 3.1% of adults over 16 experienced stalking in the year ending June 2024 while police recorded 131,912 stalking offences. This is why we are committed to playing a more active role in policing to ensure officers have the right support, to significantly improve standards across the board and to ensure justice is delivered for victims.
Raising awareness of stalking is an important part of this and there are existing examples of local initiatives funded by police forces, Police and Crime Commissioners or local authorities. We are considering how raising awareness of VAWG crimes including stalking could form part of the upcoming new VAWG strategy.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to tackle stalking by putting victims first and increasing the protections available to them.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Stalking is an insidious crime that can leave victims living in fear just going about their daily lives. That is why this Government is fully committed to tackling it.
On 3 December the Government announced six new measures to tackle stalking. This included legislating to introduce multi-agency statutory guidance on stalking and providing for the courts to impose Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) on conviction and acquittal of their own volition. We will bring forward legislation to introduce measures at the earliest opportunity.
The College of Policing provides an Authorised Professional Practice (APP) and e-learning on stalking to support the police. This includes guidance on identifying and investigating stalking and applying for and managing SPOs. The guidance and e-learning are being updated to reflect the findings from a recent super-complaint on stalking and will be kept under regular review. The CPS provides guidance for prosecutors with the general principles to be applied when making decisions about prosecutions involving stalking.
We know there is a gap between the prevalence of stalking and stalking offences reported to the police. For example, the Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates 3.1% of adults over 16 experienced stalking in the year ending June 2024 while police recorded 131,912 stalking offences. This is why we are committed to playing a more active role in policing to ensure officers have the right support, to significantly improve standards across the board and to ensure justice is delivered for victims.
Raising awareness of stalking is an important part of this and there are existing examples of local initiatives funded by police forces, Police and Crime Commissioners or local authorities. We are considering how raising awareness of VAWG crimes including stalking could form part of the upcoming new VAWG strategy.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle underreporting of stalking.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Stalking is an insidious crime that can leave victims living in fear just going about their daily lives. That is why this Government is fully committed to tackling it.
On 3 December the Government announced six new measures to tackle stalking. This included legislating to introduce multi-agency statutory guidance on stalking and providing for the courts to impose Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) on conviction and acquittal of their own volition. We will bring forward legislation to introduce measures at the earliest opportunity.
The College of Policing provides an Authorised Professional Practice (APP) and e-learning on stalking to support the police. This includes guidance on identifying and investigating stalking and applying for and managing SPOs. The guidance and e-learning are being updated to reflect the findings from a recent super-complaint on stalking and will be kept under regular review. The CPS provides guidance for prosecutors with the general principles to be applied when making decisions about prosecutions involving stalking.
We know there is a gap between the prevalence of stalking and stalking offences reported to the police. For example, the Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates 3.1% of adults over 16 experienced stalking in the year ending June 2024 while police recorded 131,912 stalking offences. This is why we are committed to playing a more active role in policing to ensure officers have the right support, to significantly improve standards across the board and to ensure justice is delivered for victims.
Raising awareness of stalking is an important part of this and there are existing examples of local initiatives funded by police forces, Police and Crime Commissioners or local authorities. We are considering how raising awareness of VAWG crimes including stalking could form part of the upcoming new VAWG strategy.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase public trust in the Metropolitan Police Service.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Commissioner’s ‘New Met for London’ plan sets out the force’s work to improve its performance. The Mayor for London established the London Policing Board to hold the Commissioner to account for delivery of the plan. Home Office Ministers are in regular contact with the MPS Commissioner and Mayor of London to ensure progress is being made.
The MPS is also currently in the enhanced ‘Engage’ phase of routine monitoring by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). The force has developed an improvement plan and on 13 November, HMICFRS closed one of the four causes of concern that led to the MPS being placed into ‘Engage’. The Home Office will continue to monitor progress through attendance at HMICFRS’s Police Performance and Oversight Board.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of comments made by Sir Mark Rowley to the London Policing Board on 10 December 2024 in relation to (a) funding and (b) potential job losses in the Metropolitan Police.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Provisional Police Funding Settlement was published on 17 December. This settlement provides £19.5 billion of funding for 2025-26 which is an increase of up to £1 billion. For the Metropolitan Police, this means funding of up to £3.8 billion in funding in 2025-26, an increase of up to £226.9 million when compared to the 2024-25 police settlement.
We will continue to work closely with the force to ensure that they have the resources they need.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking with the Metropolitan Police to deploy educational awareness campaigns aimed at reducing youth-related knife crime in London.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Halving knife crime over the next decade is a key part of the Government’s Safer Streets mission. We are taking a range of steps to realise this ambition. For example, we have banned Zombie style knives and zombie style machetes and are currently consulting on a ban of ninja swords. We are also creating a new Young Futures programme - intervening earlier to stop young people being drawn into crime. It is vital we have a system that can identify and support those young people who need it most.
The Home Office funds the London Violence Reduction Unit, a multiagency partnership which includes the Metropolitan Police, to understand and tackle the drivers of serious violence. London VRU supports delivery of a range of youth initiatives across London boroughs which raise awareness of the impact of knife crime, for example the Choices Weapons Awareness Programme, delivered across Camden secondary schools to increase understanding of the consequences of knife crime on families affected and deter knife-carrying.