Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prosecutions there have been for thefts relating to self-service checkouts in the (a) Lancashire Constabulary, (b) Greater Manchester Police and (c) Merseyside Police areas in the latest period for which figures are available.

It is not possible to identify from centrally held data the number of defendants prosecuted for theft relating to self-service checkouts as these particular offences cannot be disaggregated from the broader offence of ‘theft from shops’. The information requested could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.