Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle organised bike theft.

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

The Home Office works closely with the British Transport Police (BTP), the national lead for tackling cycle theft, who have 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(opens in a new tab). The Plan aims to boost cycling and walking and sets out a number of initiatives to combat cycle theft which DfT is leading, including encouraging retailers to number the bicycles they sell and offering customers the opportunity to register their bicycle on a database at the point of sale.

The Crime survey of England & Wales show that bicycle theft since March 2010 has reduced by 49%.