Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions her Department has had with police forces on shoplifting.

The Government recognises the importance of visible neighbourhood policing in deterring crime including shoplifting. That is why we are strengthening neighbourhood policing so officers can focus on local priorities including retail crime.

We will deliver 13,000 additional neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament. By February 2026 we had delivered more than 3,100 additional police officers and PCSOs into neighbourhood roles. The first-year growth target was first exceeded in January 2026, two months ahead of schedule.

We are also giving the police the powers they need and have strengthened the law through the Crime and Policing Act, introducing a new offence of assaulting a retail worker and removing the £200 threshold for shop theft.

We are providing £7 million over a three-year period covering 2025 to 2028, to support the police tackle retail crime, including continuing to fund a specialist policing team – in partnership with the retail sector - to better understand the tactics used by organised retail crime gangs and identify more offenders.

I Chair the Retail Crime Forum which brings together the retail sector, security providers and law enforcement agencies to ensure we understand the needs of all retailers and to promote collaboration, share best practice and to work collectively to tackle the serious issue of retail crime. This includes the implementation of a new strategy to tackle shop theft published by policing, retail sector representatives and industry as part of collective efforts to combat shop theft.