Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Transport, (b) representatives from the motor industry and (c) representatives of law enforcement agencies on keyless car thefts in (i) Coventry, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) England.

The Government is aware of the issue of the use of electronic compromise to bypass security measures in order to steal vehicles or steal items from vehicles and recognises the negative impact such crime has on industry and the public, causing distress and disruption to victims, and raises concerns in owners over the safety of their vehicles.

Following a meeting I held earlier last year with law enforcement and motor industry representatives, we continue to work closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, through a National Vehicle Crime Working Group, to take forward a programme of work to tackle vehicle crime, overseen by the Government’s Crime and Justice Taskforce.