Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will issue guidance on crime reporting for lone workers in the retail sector.

Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level. We will not stand for this.

There are currently no plans to produce specific guidance on crime reporting in the retail sector, however we would encourage all retailers, including lone workers, to report all crime to the police.

We are giving police officers the powers they need through this government’s Crime and Policing Bill, which is introducing a new specific offence of assaulting a retail worker and ending the effective immunity that currently applies for theft of goods of and under £200. That will apply to all those who work in shops, including those who work alone.

We want to remove the perception that those committing shop theft will escape punishment by ensuring there are visible and meaningful consequences for those caught breaking the law.