Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of changes in the level of infrastructure-related metal thefts in the last four years, and if she will make a statement.

The Office for National Statistics publishes annually a time series of data on metal theft offences recorded by the police. The latest available data covering the year to March 2022 can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/focusonpropertycrimeappendixtables

The Crime Survey for England and Wales for year to December 2022, show that overall thefts is down 47% compared with March 2010.

The Home Office provided funding in the financial year 2020-21 to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership. The Partnership ensures the national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. Membership of the Partnership includes infrastructure companies such as rail, telecoms and utility companies, who work together to monitor trends in metal theft, share intelligence, target offenders and implement crime prevention measures.