Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the number of catalytic converter thefts in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England; and what steps her Department is taking with the (i) motor industry and (ii) police to reduce the number of those thefts in those areas.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Figures are not held on the number of catalytic converter thefts in England or by local area. The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) collects data on incidents regarding theft from a vehicle, including details of the items stolen, such as car parts. From April 2019 to March 2020, an estimate of recorded household incidents from the CSEW shows that in 1.6% of incidents of theft from vehicles, a catalytic converter was stolen. The figures are published here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/adhocs/12496catalyticconvertersstoleninincidentsoftheftfromvehiclesyearendingmarch2015toyearendingmarch2020crimesurveyforenglandandwales
We continue to work closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, established by the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime and overseen by the Government’s Crime and Justice Taskforce, to understand what more can be done to tackle the theft of catalytic converters. The National Police Chiefs’ Council hosted a problem-solving workshop in November to bring together representatives from the motor industry, policing and Government to discuss the theft of catalytic converters.
The Government has provided funding to set up the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership, ensuring national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft, including the theft of catalytic converters. Through this, the partnership has already provided training to police forces and started sharing intelligence to target offenders and implement crime prevention measures.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Transport, (b) representatives from the motor industry and (c) representatives of law enforcement agencies on keyless car thefts in (i) Coventry, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) England.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is aware of the issue of the use of electronic compromise to bypass security measures in order to steal vehicles or steal items from vehicles and recognises the negative impact such crime has on industry and the public, causing distress and disruption to victims, and raises concerns in owners over the safety of their vehicles.
Following a meeting I held earlier last year with law enforcement and motor industry representatives, we continue to work closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, through a National Vehicle Crime Working Group, to take forward a programme of work to tackle vehicle crime, overseen by the Government’s Crime and Justice Taskforce.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the levels of catalytic converter theft in the last twelve months; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce levels of such theft.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) collects data on incidents regarding theft from a vehicle, including details of the items stolen, such as car parts. From April 2019 to March 2020, an estimate of recorded household incidents from the CSEW shows that in 1.6% of incidents of theft from vehicles, a catalytic converter was stolen. The figures are published here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/adhocs/12496catalyticconvertersstoleninincidentsoftheftfromvehiclesyearendingmarch2015toyearendingmarch2020crimesurveyforenglandandwales
The Government recognises the negative impact this crime has on industry and the public, causing distress and disruption to victims. We continue to work to understand what more can be done to tackle the theft of catalytic converters. In May I held a meeting with representatives of the motor industry to discuss vehicle crime, including the theft of catalytic converters. In November, the National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Vehicle Crime hosted a problem-solving workshop on catalytic converter theft to discuss what action can be taken to reduce these thefts.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to convene the next meeting of the vehicle theft taskforce.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
In May I convened a meeting with industry leaders and the police to start working through what more can be done collectively to tackle vehicle crime.
We are working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Vehicle Crime, through a National Vehicle Crime Working Group, to take forward a programme of work to tackle vehicle crime, overseen by the Government’s Crime and Justice Taskforce. This governance structure has superseded the vehicle theft taskforce.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to help prevent the export of stolen vehicles.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government recognises the distressing and disruptive impact vehicle theft can have on victims. We are working with the police, industry and other partners to ensure the response to these crimes is as robust as it can be.
Operational activity to tackle the export of stolen vehicles should be intelligence led and the Government expects the police and other law enforcement agencies to share information to prevent it.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps police forces are taking to improve the recording of thefts of catalytic converters from motor vehicles.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government recognises the distress and disruption that metal theft, including the theft of catalytic converters, can cause.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes police recorded crime data on metal theft offences annually which can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/focusonpropertycrimeappendixtables. Whilst the ONS data does not separate out theft of catalytic converters, this would be recorded under non-infrastructure related incidents.
We continue to work closely with the police, industry and others to understand what more we can do to tackle vehicle-related theft.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the level of vehicle theft in the West Midlands.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
To support the fight against crime, West Midlands Police are receiving £568.8m in funding in 2019/20, an increase of £34.4m on 2018/19.
The previous Policing Minister chaired a Vehicle Theft Taskforce which brought together the police, the motor industry and others. The Government continues to work with partners to ensure that the response to this crime is as robust as it can be.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what statistics his Department holds on car thefts; and whether those statistics are broken down by (a) police force area and (b) parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office holds data on the number and outcomes of the offences ‘Aggravated vehicle taking’ and ‘Theft or unauthorised taking of motor vehicle’, recorded by the police in England and Wales. The data are available by Police Force Area (PFA) and Community Safety Partnership (CSP) and can be found in the Police Recorded Crime and Outcomes open data tables, published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables
It is not possible to distinguish within the data which crimes were specifically related to theft of cars rather than other types of vehicles.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the causes of the 49 per cent rise in vehicle thefts in the four years to 2017–18; what plans they have to address that rise; what discussions they have had with the automotive industry about improving vehicle security, including the security of keyless entry and start systems; and what regulations are in place to ensure minimum standards of security for newly made vehicles in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
On 15 January the Minister for Policing and the Fire Service chaired the first meeting of the Vehicle Theft Taskforce, which brings together the automotive industry, insurers, the police, Government departments and others to help ensure that the collective response to vehicle theft in England and Wales is as robust as it can be.
In addition to developing further our understanding about the threat, the work of the Taskforce will cover vehicle security, which includes looking at preventing the compromise of electronic vehicle security.
The majority of new cars and small commercial vehicles must meet the requirements of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Regulation 97 and Regulation 116 covering Vehicle Alarm Systems and Protection of Motor Vehicles Against Unauthorised Use.
Asked by: Greg Hands (Conservative - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Home Office:
What recent steps he has taken to assist victims of motor vehicle theft.
Answered by Nick Hurd
We recognise the distressing and disruptive impact vehicle theft can have on victims, and we are determined to ensure we do all we can to prevent these crimes.
In January, I chaired the first meeting of a new Vehicle Theft Taskforce which brings together industry, the police, and others to help ensure the response is as robust as it can be.