Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Metropolitan Police on gas copper pipe theft.

The Home Office engages at a national level with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, police forces and law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders to understand the national picture on metal theft, including gas copper pipe theft, and what can be done to tackle it. This includes supporting the work of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Metal Crime Steering Group led by the NPCC lead for metal theft, ACC Charlie Doyle. The Metropolitan Police is represented on this group.

The Home Office provided £177,000 seed corn funding in the 2020/21 financial year to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership. The Partnership ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. The Partnership, facilitates data and intelligence sharing to partners to target offenders, understand emerging trends, and implement crime prevention measures. The partnership has provided training to over 1,600 police officers and other law enforcement agencies in tackling metal theft.

We have also provided funding to Historic England for a project to mark lead from church roofs and explore how to best prevent and investigate theft and illicit disposal of metal from historic sites.