Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many bicycle thefts there were in (a) London and (b) England in the last 12 months.

The Home Office works closely with the British Transport Police (BTP), the national lead for cycle theft, to tackle the theft of bicycles. BTP have recently launched the ‘double lock it’ campaign with police forces and organisations, providing advice to owners to help better protect their bicycles. Further information on the campaign and bicycle locks can be found here: https://www.btp.police.uk/police-forces/british-transport-police/areas/campaigns/double-lock-it/.

The Department for Transport (DfT) published its Cycling and Walking Plan for England, Gear Change, in 2020, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cycling-and-walking-plan-for-england. The Plan aims to boost cycling and walking and sets out a number of initiatives to combat cycle theft DfT is leading including encouraging retailers to number the bicycles they sell and offer customers the opportunity to register their bicycle on a database at the point of sale.

The BTP-led National Cycle Crime Group, working with DfT, have set up Cycle Crime Reduction Partnerships across the country to coordinate regional enforcement activity to disrupt organised cycle theft.

Bicycle theft figures from the Crime Survey of England and Wales in Mar 2010 compared to now, which are:

Year to Mar 2010: 466,000
Year to June 2022: 242,000
Reduction of 48%