Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with the police on taking steps to help tackle shoplifting in rural areas.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
he Government recognises the significant impact shoplifting has on businesses, communities, and consumers. The Crime Survey for England and Wales shows neighbourhood crime is down 48% compared to findings from the year ending March 2010.
However, Police Recorded Crime figures show shoplifting offences increased by 32% in the 12 months to September 2023. Statistics also show the number of people charged with shoplifting offences has risen by 34% in the year ending September 2023, showing that police are taking action.
We have recently taken significant steps to improve the police response to retail crime, including shoplifting.
In October 2023, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the Retail Crime Action Plan. Through this Plan, all forces across England and Wales have committed to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. Additionally, where CCTV or other digital images are secured, police will run this through the Police National Database to aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals.
This builds on the NPCC commitment that police forces across England and Wales will follow up all crimes where there is actionable evidence and the chance of identifying an offender, including shoplifting.
October also saw the launch of Pegasus, a unique private-public partnership, which involves retailers providing data, intelligence and evidence to Opal, the national police intelligence unit on organised acquisitive crime, to develop a better strategic picture and help forces crack down on serious offenders.
The Government’s plan – "Fighting retail crime: more action" was launched on 10 April, which highlights five areas of work this Government will drive forward to tackle retail crime:
This builds on the police-led Retail Crime Action Plan.
We are continuing to work closely with retail businesses, security representatives, trade associations and policing through the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG), which meets on a quarterly basis, to ensure the response to retail crime, including shoplifting, is as robust as it can be.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) safe and (b) peaceful protests can take place outside the Envigo laboratory in Loughborough.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
It is a long-standing tradition in this country that people are free to gather together and to demonstrate their views, provided that they do so within the law. This government supports these rights, including the right of individuals to engage in peaceful protest. However, a balance must be struck between the rights of protesters and the rights of others to go about their lives without serious disruption or intimidation.
The management of protests is an operational matter for the police. The government expects the police to act where necessary to maintain public safety. In certain circumstances, the police will have a duty to take reasonable steps to protect those who want to exercise their rights peacefully.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many 16 to 25 year olds have been arrested for rough sleeping under the Vagrancy Act.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government does not collect figures on police usage of the Vagrancy Act where this does not result in prosecution. Policing is operationally independent of the Home Office, and we cannot comment on operational decisions.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the time taken for care providers to receive Certificates of Sponsorship for (a) overseas and (b) senior care workers.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Defined Certificate of Sponsorship process for carers and senior carers from overseas is the same and frequently requires an assessment to establish whether or not the sponsor is able to offer a genuine vacancy. This usually requires the sponsor to submit additional documentation, while the timeframes involved are adequate for the purposes of preventing the exploitation of proposed migrant workers.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to improve police recruitment and retention in the London Borough of Havering.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
We delivered our commitment to recruit 20,000 additional police officers. There are now over 149,000 officers in England and Wales, higher than the previous peak in 2010. Forces have been fully funded to maintain this uplift.
Retention is a key priority. Voluntary resignation rates, at around 3%, are low compared to other sectors and 72% of new recruits say they intend to stay until retirement.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will hold discussions with the National Police Chiefs' Council on increasing awareness of neurodiverse conditions in recruitment processes.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Our Police Uplift Programme supported forces with a variety of attraction and recruitment strategies, whilst delivering a campaign that was designed to reach diverse audiences.
We continue to work with The College of Policing and NPCC to support efforts to recruit a diverse workforce, and to ensure policing is a career where recruits can thrive.
Asked by: John Whittingdale (Conservative - Maldon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps he has taken to help recruit and retain police officers.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
We delivered our commitment to recruit 20,000 additional police officers. There are now over 149,000 officers in England and Wales, higher than the previous peak in 2010. Forces have been fully funded to maintain this uplift.
Retention is a key priority. Voluntary resignation rates, at around 3%, are low compared to other sectors and 72% of new recruits say they intend to stay until retirement.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help reduce the number of unsolved crimes.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are committed to ensuring all partners across the Criminal Justice System (CJS) work better together to increase the number of cases being charged and prosecuted and improve case progression.
We welcome the commitment from police forces across England and Wales to pursue all leads where there is a reasonable chance it could result in catching a perpetrator and solving a crime.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of fees for firearms licences.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Fees for firearms licences were last increased in 2015 and the Government is currently considering proposals for new firearms licensing fees.
I hope to make an announcement about fees shortly.
Income received from firearms licensing fees should be invested into ensuring forces’ licensing teams are adequately resourced, trained and equipped.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish an updated anti-corruption strategy.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Development of a new Anti-Corruption Strategy is well underway with publication expected shortly.
The new Strategy will build on progress made in the 2017 Strategy and set out how the Government will go further to counter corruption.
The Strategy will outline steps to prevent institutions from being corrupted, bring corrupt actors to justice, address the harms caused and combat corruption internationally.