Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the extent to which the banning of cash transactions from the scrap metal sector has helped reduce metal theft.

The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 provides the legislative basis for tackling metal theft across England and Wales. The banning of cash payments for scrap metal is one of several measures in the Act.

The Government has conducted a review of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 to assess its effectiveness in tackling and reducing metal theft. The review concluded that the measures in the Act have contributed to the falls in levels of metal theft since its introduction, and provides a strong legislative basis for action.

A report setting out the findings of the review was published by the Government on 11 December 2017.