Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking with police forces to reduce thefts of (a) cars and (b) catalytic converters.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government is committed to tackling vehicle crime and catalytic converter theft.
We are working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group (NVCWG), 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 theft of and from vehicles. 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. Through the NVWG a network of vehicle crime specialists has been established, involving every police force in England and Wales, to ensure better sharing of information and intelligence.
The Metropolitan Police Service is represented on the Working Group and the Home Office regularly engages with the NCA on crime related to criminal gangs.
The most recent meeting of the NVCWG took place on 4th May 2023.
The Government is also working closely with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP) to tackle theft of catalytic converters. The Home Office provided funding in 2021 to set-up the NICRP, the work of which ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft, providing training, sharing intelligence to target offenders, and implementing crime prevention measures.
Crime Survey data on vehicle theft since 2010 being down 42%. The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of car thefts recorded by the police in England and Wales, including data by London Boroughs.
Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Table 1 Volume of Police recorded offences for ‘Theft of a motor vehicle’, Outer London Boroughs
Area | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | Apr to Dec 22 |
Hounslow | 876 | 792 | 744 | 562 |
Outer London Boroughs | 19,305 | 16,154 | 17,978 | 15,472 |
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has she made of recent trends in the number of car thefts in (a) Enfield North constituency and (b) the London Borough of Enfield.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The best measure of trends in crime is the Office for National Statistics’ Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and its latest estimates shows that the number of incidences of vehicle related thefts has fallen by 42% since the year ending March 2010. The sample size of the CSEW is not large enough to yield estimates at constituency or local authority level.
However, the Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of vehicle theft offences reported to and recorded by the police in England and Wales, on a quarterly basis. These are available at the Community Safety Partnership Area level, and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables
The Home Office does not hold information at the constituency level.
The Government is committed to tackling vehicle crime. We are working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group (NVCWG), 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 theft of and from vehicles.
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. Through the NVWG a network of vehicle crime specialists has been established, involving every police force in England and Wales, to ensure better sharing of information and intelligence.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the National Vehicle Crime Working Group last met.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government is committed to tackling vehicle crime and catalytic converter theft.
We are working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group (NVCWG), 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 theft of and from vehicles. 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. Through the NVWG a network of vehicle crime specialists has been established, involving every police force in England and Wales, to ensure better sharing of information and intelligence.
The Metropolitan Police Service is represented on the Working Group and the Home Office regularly engages with the NCA on crime related to criminal gangs.
The most recent meeting of the NVCWG took place on 4th April 2023.
The Government is also working closely with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP) to tackle theft of catalytic converters. The Home Office provided funding in 2021 to set-up the NICRP, the work of which ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft, providing training, sharing intelligence to target offenders, and implementing crime prevention measures.
Crime Survey data on vehicle theft since 2010 being down 42%. The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of car thefts recorded by the police in England and Wales, including data by London Boroughs.
Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Table 1 Volume of Police recorded offences for ‘Theft of a motor vehicle’, Outer London Boroughs
Area | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | Apr to Dec 22 |
Hounslow | 876 | 792 | 744 | 562 |
Outer London Boroughs | 19,305 | 16,154 | 17,978 | 15,472 |
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle (a) the theft of motor vehicles and (b) the use of signal blockers in those crimes.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government is committed to tackling vehicle crime.
We are 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.
A vehicle crime intelligence group has been set up to monitor emerging trends in vehicle crime, such as the use of signal blockers, and provide a link between the Home Office, police, vehicle manufacturers and Thatcham Research, the automotive insurer’s research centre.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle car crime in Battersea.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government is committed to tackling vehicle crime.
We are 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. The Metropolitan Police Service is represented on the Working Group.
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.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
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 theft of tools from vans.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government is working with Combined Industries Theft Solutions (CITS) and the police-led National Business Crime Centre to explore ways to prevent the theft of tools including theft from vans.
We are working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, chaired by the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, taking forward a programme of work to prevent and reduce theft of and from vehicles, which includes training police officers on methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles and working with industry to address vulnerability in vehicles.
The Government is tackling acquisitive crime as a priority and is committed to reducing the ability for criminals to profit from crime, making it less attractive for offenders to commit thefts of goods, including tools. We have established a group of expert policing and academic partners who are taking forward work across a number of themes. These include actions to identify where and how stolen goods are sold; examining ways to ensure property is marked, identifiable and traceable; and encouraging due diligence checks by second-hand traders and increased enforcement from police.
We are looking at adding this by SI to the matters covered by Greg Smith's PMB once it has passed.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce car thefts.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government is committed to tackling vehicle-related thefts.
We are working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, chaired by the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, taking forward a programme of work to prevent and reduce theft of and from vehicles, which includes training of police officers on methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles and working with industry to address vulnerability in vehicle.
A network of vehicle crime leads has also been established, covering all forces, to ensure better sharing of information and intelligence.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
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) Enfield North constituency, (b) London and (c) England in each of the past 12 years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The number of ‘theft of a motor vehicle’ offences recorded by the territorial police forces in London and in England in each year is presented in the table below. Data at the constituency level are not published by the Home Office.
The number of ‘theft or unauthorised taking of motor vehicle’ and ‘Aggravated vehicle taking’ offences recorded by police forces:
Theft of a motor vehicle offences | England | London |
2010/11 | 100,634 | 27,073 |
2011/12 | 87,635 | 26,346 |
2012/13 | 75,748 | 22,198 |
2013/14 | 71,747 | 20,784 |
2014/15 | 72,257 | 21,931 |
2015/16 | 78,394 | 22,265 |
2016/17 | 93,121 | 28,008 |
2017/18 | 107,504 | 31,565 |
2018/19 | 115,199 | 31,705 |
2019/20 | 114,395 | 31,235 |
2020/21 | 90,476 | 25,801 |
2021/22 | 109,179 | 29,066 |
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Source: Home Office police recorded crime open data tables
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of (a) car and (b) catalytic converter thefts in England.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Government works closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for vehicle crime, the police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group (NVCWG), taking forward a programme of work to prevent and reduce theft of and from vehicles. Through the NVCWG a network of vehicle crime specialists has been established, involving every police force in England and Wales, to ensure better sharing of information and intelligence.
The most recent meeting of the NVCWG took place on 23 June 2022.
The Government is also working closely with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP) to tackle theft of catalytic converters. The Home Office provided seed corn funding in 2021 to set-up the NICRP, the work of which ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft, providing training, sharing intelligence to target offenders, and implementing crime prevention measures.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the National Vehicle Crime Working Group last met.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Government works closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for vehicle crime, the police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group (NVCWG), taking forward a programme of work to prevent and reduce theft of and from vehicles. Through the NVCWG a network of vehicle crime specialists has been established, involving every police force in England and Wales, to ensure better sharing of information and intelligence.
The most recent meeting of the NVCWG took place on 23 June 2022.
The Government is also working closely with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP) to tackle theft of catalytic converters. The Home Office provided seed corn funding in 2021 to set-up the NICRP, the work of which ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft, providing training, sharing intelligence to target offenders, and implementing crime prevention measures.