Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of instances of metal theft from commercial premises since 2010; and what steps her Department is taking to tackle metal theft from commercial premises.

The most recent data available for metal theft offences recorded by police forces in England and Wales were published by the Office for National Statistics in November 2016. These showed a decrease in metal theft of 38% in 2015/16 compared with 2014/15 and a 74% decrease compared with 2012/13, which is when the Home Office first started collecting data on metal theft offences. These data do not differentiate between thefts from commercial premises and other thefts.

The Home Office continues to work with the police-led National Metal Theft Working Group to understand the nature of metal theft and the impact that the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 has had on levels of metal theft.