Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information his Department holds on the most common crimes that take place at community pharmacies.

The Home Office holds data on the number of offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, and collects and publishes data on crime affecting commercial business premises, including retail premises, in England and Wales as part of the Commercial Victimisation Survey.

Neither data source provides the level of detail necessary to identify crimes that take place in community pharmacies.

The Commercial Victimisation Survey provides the most reliable estimate of crime impacting wholesale and retail premises in England and Wales. The most recent available data, for the year 2022, is available online:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/crime-against-businesses-findings-from-the-2022-commercial-victimisation-survey.

The National Business Crime Centre has published guidance containing practical advice to help pharmacies identify risks and prevent crime, the guidance is published here: Pharmacies October 22.pdf (nbcc.police.uk).