Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to ONS statistics released on 23 January 2020, if she will make an assessment of the reasons for the 14 per cent increase in police recorded incidents of shoplifting in England and Wales over the last decade.

We recognise the significant costs on communities, businesses and the economy that shop theft can have which is why we changed the law in 2014 to enable some cases to be dealt with more quickly and efficiently.

The Office for National Statistics has commented that improvements in recording practices by the police have made a substantial contribution to rises in recorded crime over the last five years.