Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the definition of assault of a retail worker to include workers in other high street outlets serving customers.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Through our Crime and Policing Bill, this Government has introduced a new specific standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to help tackle the epidemic of shop theft and violence towards shop workers that we have seen in recent years, and protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.
For the purposes of this new offence, our definition of a ‘retail worker’ is intentionally narrow given the vital need to provide legal clarity and ensure there is no ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker, and the assault took place in the course of their work.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how "retail" work is defined for the purposes of the Crime and Policing Bill; and whether that definition includes hospitality premises with a functional overlap, such as pubs which run village shops and restaurants selling branded products on the premises.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we are introducing a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.
This definition of a retail worker captures someone working in or about retail premises for or on behalf of the owner or occupier of the retail premises.
Our definition is intentionally narrow and does not include hospitality staff, given the vital need to provide legal clarity and ensure there is no ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker and impacted during their job.
Those workers whose roles are not included within the definition are already covered under other legislation such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which also covers more serious violence, such as actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.
There is also a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This ensures the courts treat the public-facing nature of a victim’s role as an aggravating factor when considering the sentence for an offence.
Alongside this, we are ending the effective immunity that currently applies for theft of goods under £200 by repealing section 176 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.
We are also providing over £7 million over the next three years to support the police and retailers tackle retail crime, including continuing to fund a specialist policing team to disrupt organised retail crime gangs and identify more offenders.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions the Department has had with the police on improving protection for retail workers experiencing abuse or violence.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has regular discussions with the police and other partners on protecting retail workers and tackling shop theft.
The Home Office and Department for Business and Trade recently held a joint meeting of the Retail Crime Forum and Retail Sector Council, attended by representatives from policing and the retail sector, which included discussion on the ‘Tackling Retail Crime Together Strategy’. The strategy was jointly developed by the police and industry and aims to provide a collaborative and evidence-based approach to preventing retail crime, including abuse and violence against retail workers.
Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are bringing in a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We are also removing the legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will take steps to ensure that retail workers required to work alone are adequately protected from (a) violence, (b) abuse and (c) theft.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Honourable Member to the previous answer 71094.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of reported incidents of (a) assault and (b) abuse against lone retail workers in each of the last three years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on the number of incidents of violent crime and public order offences (including assaults and verbal abuse) recorded by the police in England and Wales. The latest data can be found here:
Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK
It is not currently possible to identify which of these incidents were committed against retail workers during the course of their work, as these incidents fall under categories of crime, such as assault.
In the Crime and Policing Bill, we are bringing forward a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.
The offence will be allocated a specific Home Office Crime Recording Rule, which will help provide a more complete picture of the problem, in turn informing future policy decisions and enabling the police to respond accordingly.
The Home Office has also published estimates from the Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) on the proportion of retail premises which experienced at least one incident of assault or threat. This data can be found here, and includes those premises which did not report the incident to the police: Crime against businesses statistics - GOV.UK
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how she defines mainly by retail in Clause 15 of the Crime and Policing Bill.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 created a statutory aggravating factor in sentencing cases of assault against public facing workers. It applies where an assault is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public, including public-facing roles in banks, bureau de changes and building societies.
Alongside this, through our Crime and Policing Bill, this Government has introduced a new specific standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to help tackle the epidemic of shop theft and violence towards shop workers that we have seen in recent years, and protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.
For the purposes of this new offence, our definition of a ‘retail worker’ is intentionally narrow given the vital need to provide legal clarity and ensure there is no ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker, and the assault took place in the course of their work.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to help prevent violence against retail workers.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Under the previous Government, violence and abuse towards retail workers increased to unacceptable levels. We will not stand for this. Everybody has a right to feel safe at their place of work and we have long championed specific protections for retail workers.
In the Crime and Policing Bill, we brought a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. The Bill has now completed its passage through the House of Commons and was introduced to the House of Lords on 19 June.
Given the violence and abuse associated with shop theft, as part of the Bill we will also scrap the effective immunity – introduced by the previous government - to shop theft of goods of and under £200, making clear any shop theft is illegal.
We are providing over £7 million over the next three years to support the policing bodies tackle retail crime, including organised criminal gangs.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) retail staff and (b) police officers are aware of the new offence of assaulting a retail worker.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Through our Safer Streets Mission and wider reforms, we are determined to tackle crime and restore public confidence in policing. The Home Office has published a performance framework to monitor delivery of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, including reducing crime and improving public perceptions of crime and anti-social behaviour. The framework is published here: Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee performance framework - GOV.UK
Work being done by Opal, the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), directly supports the aims of the Safer Streets Mission.
We are providing over £7 million over the next three financial years to these organisations to help them tackle retail crime.
This includes an agreed delivery plan and Key Performance Indicators, and ongoing monitoring throughout the period of the grant. An evaluation will be undertaken to ensure the aims of the funding are delivered. This will include evaluation on how it has assisted in tackling retail crime, including serious and organised retail crime Opal is overseen by the NPCC lead for Serious Organised Acquisitive Crime, Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman,
The Crime and Policing Bill, which includes the offence of assaulting a retail worker, is progressing through Parliament and was introduced to the House of Lords on 19 June. We will continue to work with police and the retail sector through the Retail Crime Forum to ensure that, after Royal Assent, everyone is aware of the new legislation.
Asked by: Mike Reader (Labour - Northampton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to extend the proposed standalone offence for assaulting a retail worker under the Crime and Policing Bill to include retail delivery drivers.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is committed to tackling retail crime. Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.
Assaults against delivery drivers are already an offence (Common Assault) under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, and are covered under other legislation such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which also covers more serious violence, including actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.
Section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 creates a statutory aggravating factor in sentencing cases of assault against public facing workers. It applies where an assault is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public. This includes those delivering goods to customers and other public-facing roles.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions he has had with the (a) Home Secretary and (b) Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the prevention of violence against retail workers.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
Retail crime remains a significant concern, and we are taking steps including measures in the Crime and Policing Bill and in the Safer High Streets missions to tackle this important issue.
We are increasing police spending power by an average 2.3% per year in real terms over the spending review period, supporting us to meet our plan for change commitment of putting 13,000 additional police officers, police community support officers and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles across England and Wales. In the Crime and Policing Bill, we brought in a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores, and we are removing the legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.
The Minister for Policing and Crime Prevention will continue to host the Retail Crime Forum to ensure regular engagement with law enforcement and the retail sector and to discuss what more we can do to tackle retail crime, including abuse.