Asked by: Dan Tomlinson (Labour - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle car theft.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is determined to drive down vehicle crime and we are working closely with the automotive industry and police to ensure there is a robust and rapid response whenever people have their cars stolen.
We will also bring forward legislation in the upcoming Crime and Policing Bill to ban electronic devices used to steal vehicles, empowering the police and courts to target the criminals using, manufacturing and supplying those devices.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of vehicles stolen in (a) Aldershot constituency, (b) Hampshire and (c) England in each of the last 12 years.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of ‘Aggravated vehicle taking’ and ‘theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle’ offences recorded by the police in England and Wales on a quarterly basis. The latest information, to the year ending March 2024, can be accessed here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables
This information is available at the Police Force Area and Community Safety Partnership area level. Information at the constituency level is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will consult with motor vehicle manufacturers about introducing measures to eliminate the cloning of owners’ remote locking devices by car thieves.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government works closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime and the police-led National Vehicle Crime Working Group, which focuses on tackling vehicle crime. The working group which brings together representatives of the Government, policing, and vehicle manufacturers to address vulnerabilities in vehicles.
The Government keeps all legislation under review. We will be introducing a Crime and Policing Bill and will consider what measures are needed to support efforts to tackle and prevent vehicle crime.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many keyless vehicle thefts there were in Dudley constituency in the last 12 months; and what methodology her Department uses to collect this information.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Estimate from the Crime Survey of England and Wales (for the year ending March 2023) showed the two most common methods of entry in theft of vehicles in England and Wales are “Offender manipulated signal from remote locking device” (40%) and “Offender used a key/electric fob” (32%). This information is published by the Office for National Statistics.
The Government works closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime and the police-led National Vehicle Crime Working Group, which focuses on tackling vehicle crime through various workstreams. This includes training police officers on the methods used to steal vehicles, focusing on prevention and deterrence of theft of and from vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles, and working with industry to address vulnerabilities in vehicles.
The Government keeps all legislation under review. We will be introducing a Crime and Policing Bill and will consider what measures are needed to support efforts to tackle and prevent vehicle crime.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the use of keyless theft equipment in vehicle-related crimes; if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of existing legislation for tackling the use of that equipment; and whether she plans to bring forward new legislative proposals to tackle this issue.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Estimate from the Crime Survey of England and Wales (for the year ending March 2023) showed the two most common methods of entry in theft of vehicles in England and Wales are “Offender manipulated signal from remote locking device” (40%) and “Offender used a key/electric fob” (32%). This information is published by the Office for National Statistics.
The Government works closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime and the police-led National Vehicle Crime Working Group, which focuses on tackling vehicle crime through various workstreams. This includes training police officers on the methods used to steal vehicles, focusing on prevention and deterrence of theft of and from vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles, and working with industry to address vulnerabilities in vehicles.
The Government keeps all legislation under review. We will be introducing a Crime and Policing Bill and will consider what measures are needed to support efforts to tackle and prevent vehicle crime.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of annual vehicle theft in the UK is accomplished by offenders cloning the signal from the vehicle owner’s remote locking device.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
The Lord Birt
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
9 May 2024
Dear Lord Birt,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what percentage of annual vehicle theft in the UK is accomplished by offenders cloning the signal from the vehicle owner’s remote locking device (HL4379).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish figures on the levels and trends of crime in England and Wales primarily based on two sets of crime statistics: the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime data. The CSEW provides estimates of the prevalence of crime and different crime types as experienced by victims, which may not always be reported to the police.
Table 1 shows an estimate of the percentage of households who have experienced theft of a vehicle, where the method of entry into the vehicle was through manipulation of the signal from the remote locking device. This is taken from our Nature of crime: vehicle-related theft tables for the year ending March 2023 published on 3 April 2024. Due to the suspension of the CSEW during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, data are not available for the year ending March 2021 and the year ending March 2022.
Unfortunately, we do not hold any information from police-recorded crime which shows what percentage of annual vehicle theft in England and Wales is accomplished by offenders cloning the signal from the vehicle owner’s remote locking device.
Crime and justice statistics for Scotland can be found on the Scottish Government website and for more information please contact Justice_Analysts@gov.scot. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for producing crime and justice statistics for Northern Ireland and can be contacted at statistics.research@justice-ni.x.gsi.gov.uk.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
Table 1: Estimated percentage of theft of vehicles where method of entry was through manipulation of the signal from remote locking device, year ending March 2019 to year ending March 2023 CSEW
England and Wales - household incidents, percentages | |||
| Apr’18 to Mar’19 | Apr’19 to Mar’20 | Apr’22 to Mar’23 [1] |
Entry to vehicle through manipulation of signal from remote locking device[2] | 13 | 36 | 40 |
Unweighted base – number of incidents[3] | 46 | 50 | 51 |
Source: Office for National Statistics – Crime Survey for England and Wales
[1]CSEW estimates for the year ending March 2023 have been temporarily suspended of their National Statistics status. Caution should be taken when interpreting these estimates because of the impact of lower response rates, and reduced interviewer numbers on the quality of the estimates.
[2]This category was added into the survey from the year ending March 2019.
[3]Estimates that are based on fewer than 50 respondents should be interpreted with caution.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to tackle car crime in north London.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government is committed to tackling vehicle crime. The latest estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales shows there were 726,000 incidents of vehicle-related theft in the year ending September 2023. This represents a 39% fall, when compared with the year ending March 2010, when there was an estimated 1,198,000 such incidents.
The Government is working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, chaired by ACC Jennifer Sims, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, to take forward a programme of work to prevent and reduce vehicle crime nationally. This includes training police officers on methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles and working with industry to prevent theft. A network of vehicle crime leads has been established in every police force in England and Wales, ensuring forces share information about emerging trends in vehicle crime and are better able to tackle regional issues. The Metropolitan Police Service are represented on the Working Group and have an established vehicle crime lead.
We are also legislating through the Criminal Justice Bill to create two new offences where a person possesses, makes, adapts, supplies or offers to supply electronic devices where there are reasonable grounds to suspect they will be used in vehicle theft. The legislation will make it easier for police to prosecute criminals making and supplying these devices, as well as vehicle thieves.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will hold discussions with insurers on encouraging car owners to fit car security systems to (a) deter theft and (b) reduce their insurance premiums.
Answered by Guy Opperman
New cars and light commercial vehicles require systems to prevent unauthorised use, immobilisers and a vehicle alarm system to enable them to be registered.
Department for Transport officials regularly liaise with representatives of the motor insurance industry on a variety of issues such as the cost of insurance. However individual insurers are responsible for setting the terms and conditions of the policies that they offer. The Government does not intervene or seek to control the market.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of stolen cars returned to their owners in each of the last three years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government is committed to tackling vehicle crime.
The latest estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales shows there were 726,000 incidents of vehicle-related theft in the year ending September 2023. This represents a 39% fall, when compared with the year ending March 2010, when there was an estimated 1,198,000 such incidents.
The Government is working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, chaired by ACC Jennifer Sims, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, to take forward a programme of work to prevent and reduce vehicle crime nationally. This includes training police officers on methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles and working with industry to prevent theft. A network of vehicle crime leads has been established in every police force in England and Wales, ensuring forces share information about emerging trends in vehicle crime and are better able to tackle regional issues.
We are legislating through the Criminal Justice Bill to create two new offences where a person possesses, makes, adapts, supplies or offers to supply electronic devices where there are reasonable grounds to suspect they will be used in vehicle theft. The legislation will make it easier for police to prosecute criminals making and supplying these devices, as well as vehicle thieves.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales publishes annual estimates on the proportion of stolen vehicles returned to owners which can be found within the ‘Nature of crime: Vehicle related thefts’. The latest available figures from the 2019/20 CSEW, estimated that in 28% of thefts the vehicle was returned to its owner, 34% in the 2018/19 survey and 40% in the 2017/18 survey.
No assessment has been made of the number of vehicles stolen by under 18s and there are currently no plans to publish the minutes of meeting on car theft since November 2023.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish the minutes of meetings he has had on car theft since November 2023.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government is committed to tackling vehicle crime.
The latest estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales shows there were 726,000 incidents of vehicle-related theft in the year ending September 2023. This represents a 39% fall, when compared with the year ending March 2010, when there was an estimated 1,198,000 such incidents.
The Government is working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, chaired by ACC Jennifer Sims, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, to take forward a programme of work to prevent and reduce vehicle crime nationally. This includes training police officers on methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles and working with industry to prevent theft. A network of vehicle crime leads has been established in every police force in England and Wales, ensuring forces share information about emerging trends in vehicle crime and are better able to tackle regional issues.
We are legislating through the Criminal Justice Bill to create two new offences where a person possesses, makes, adapts, supplies or offers to supply electronic devices where there are reasonable grounds to suspect they will be used in vehicle theft. The legislation will make it easier for police to prosecute criminals making and supplying these devices, as well as vehicle thieves.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales publishes annual estimates on the proportion of stolen vehicles returned to owners which can be found within the ‘Nature of crime: Vehicle related thefts’. The latest available figures from the 2019/20 CSEW, estimated that in 28% of thefts the vehicle was returned to its owner, 34% in the 2018/19 survey and 40% in the 2017/18 survey.
No assessment has been made of the number of vehicles stolen by under 18s and there are currently no plans to publish the minutes of meeting on car theft since November 2023.