Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to support police forces to tackle the illegal use of e-scooters in residential areas.

Tackling anti-social behaviour and the harm it causes is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.

The police have a suite of powers available to them to tackle the illegal use of e-scooters, including in residential areas, and we expect police to deploy them appropriately.

The Crime and Policing Bill will give police greater powers to clamp down on anti-social behaviour involving vehicles including e-scooters, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before they are able to seize a vehicle. This will allow police to put an immediate stop to offending.

The Government also recently consulted on proposals to allow the police to dispose of seized vehicles more quickly, including e-bikes and privately owned e-scooters, which have been used anti-socially or illegally.

These combined measures will help tackle the scourge of e-bikes and e-scooters ridden anti-socially or illegally and will send a clear message to would-be offenders and local communities that this behaviour will not be tolerated.