Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to op Reckoning, how the department plans to work with Apple and major Android developers to implement tactics to reduce phone theft.

The Government is committed to tackling mobile phone theft and supports the operational activity being led by policing through Operation Reckoning.

Since January 2025, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has delivered its most comprehensive and intelligence-led response to mobile phone theft and robbery through Operation Reckoning. This is delivering results – street crime involving the theft of a mobile phone recorded by the MPS has fallen by over 16,000 offences in the year to September 2026, a reduction of 21% across London and 43% in Westminster, according to their own published data.

The Home Office collects data on the number of theft offences reported to the police in England and Wales by police force. It is not possible from information held centrally to identify mobile phone thefts reported to individual police forces.

The most recent phase of Operation Reckoning has, for the first time, expanded beyond London and involved forces across England and Wales working with industry and other partners. Activity has included visits to second-hand mobile phone retailers, intelligence-led enforcement activity and work to disrupt the criminal markets that enable stolen devices to be sold on for profit.

The operation is coordinated nationally by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, enabling forces to share intelligence, operational tactics and lessons learned to strengthen the collective response to mobile phone theft and support disruption activity across England and Wales.