Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle the theft of (a) farm equipment and (b) livestock.

We will be implementing the Equipment Theft Act, making it harder for criminals to sell on stolen vehicles and equipment and assisting the police with identifying the owner.

The Act’s secondary legislation will require forensic marking to be applied to new All-Terrain Vehicles and for the details to be registered on a property database, for forensic marking to be applied to all new GPS units for use in agricultural and commercial settings, and for the details to be registered on a property database. This provides an important additional tool to help police identify if an item is stolen and to return it to its rightful owner.

Additionally, the Crime and Policing Bill introduces a new power for the police to enter and search premises to which items have been electronically tracked by GPS or other means, which will help the police in tackling stolen equipment and machinery.

This financial year we have provided the first Home Office funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit. The NRCU, takes the lead on improving co-ordination and partnership working, which provides police forces with specialist operational support in their responses to rural crime, such as the theft of farming machinery and livestock theft.

We have also worked closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to deliver the new Rural and Wildlife Crime strategy which has just recently been published (25^th November). The strategy sets out operational and organisational policing priorities in respect of tackling crimes that predominantly affect rural communities, including theft of farming machinery and livestock theft as priority areas of focus for policing.