Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the provisions of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 in decreasing theft of catalytic converters.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is committed to tackling the theft of catalytic converters, working 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 determine what more can be done. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is represented on the Working Group, and discussions between the Home Office and MPS are ongoing about local policing operations.
In December 2017, the Home Office published a review of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. The review took into account views from a range of interested parties and found the measures in the 2013 Act had been effective in addressing metal theft and should be retained. A copy of the review is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-the-scrap-metal-dealers-act-2013.
Enforcement of the 2013 Act is key to tackling this crime. The Government funded the set-up of the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), which ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft, including the theft of catalytic converters. The partnership has provided training to law enforcement and other partner agencies, shares intelligence to target offenders, and implements crime prevention measures. The British Transport Police, through the NICRP, has conducted two national weeks of actions, which resulted in 64 arrests, over 1,400 stopped vehicles and over 1,000 catalytic converters and other items of stolen property were recovered.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the trend in the number of catalytic converter thefts in London in the last three years.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is committed to tackling the theft of catalytic converters, working 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 determine what more can be done. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is represented on the Working Group, and discussions between the Home Office and MPS are ongoing about local policing operations.
In December 2017, the Home Office published a review of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. The review took into account views from a range of interested parties and found the measures in the 2013 Act had been effective in addressing metal theft and should be retained. A copy of the review is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-the-scrap-metal-dealers-act-2013.
Enforcement of the 2013 Act is key to tackling this crime. The Government funded the set-up of the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), which ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft, including the theft of catalytic converters. The partnership has provided training to law enforcement and other partner agencies, shares intelligence to target offenders, and implements crime prevention measures. The British Transport Police, through the NICRP, has conducted two national weeks of actions, which resulted in 64 arrests, over 1,400 stopped vehicles and over 1,000 catalytic converters and other items of stolen property were recovered.
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 number of thefts of catalytic converters in each region and nation of the UK in each of the last three years.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Crime Survey for England and Wales provides estimates of the number of incidents of theft from vehicles, including details of the items stolen, such as car parts. The latest published data, along with a time series, can be found 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 determine what more can be done to tackle the theft of catalytic converters.
The Government funded the set-up of the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership, which ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft, including the theft of catalytic converters. The partnership has provided training to law enforcement and other partner agencies, shares intelligence to target offenders, and implements crime prevention measures.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps recent steps she has taken to work with manufacturers to reduce car thefts using exploits in keyless technology.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office doesn’t hold data on the number of car thefts related to exploits in keyless technology.
The Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) collects data on car theft incidents and method of entry, which has, since April 2018, included the method of ‘Offender manipulated signal from remote locking device’. Comparable data prior April 2018 are not available. Due to lower levels of responses to these CSEW questions, it is not possible to break the data down by region or city.
The most recently available data is available at Table_3 below:
Nature of crime: vehicle-related theft - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
The Government is tackling vehicle crime as a priority. 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. This includes consideration of how we can reduce the number of vehicles being stolen.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many car thefts related to exploits in keyless technology have been recorded in (a) Birmingham and (b) the West Midlands in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office doesn’t hold data on the number of car thefts related to exploits in keyless technology.
The Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) collects data on car theft incidents and method of entry, which has, since April 2018, included the method of ‘Offender manipulated signal from remote locking device’. Comparable data prior April 2018 are not available. Due to lower levels of responses to these CSEW questions, it is not possible to break the data down by region or city.
The most recently available data is available at Table_3 below:
Nature of crime: vehicle-related theft - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
The Government is tackling vehicle crime as a priority. 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. This includes consideration of how we can reduce the number of vehicles being stolen.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the theft of practical tools for employment in (a) West Yorkshire and (b) England.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is tackling vehicle crime as a priority. 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. This includes consideration of how we can reduce the number of vehicles being stolen.
Through this Working Group, a network of vehicle crime specialists has been established across all police forces in England and Wales to share expertise.
The Government is aware of the issue of tool theft and understands the negative impact this has on victims who rely on the tools of their trade to earn a living. We have established an expert Stolen Goods Working Group with the police and academia to tackle the markets for stolen goods. The group is examining ways to make property more identifiable and traceable and are working with partners to increase enforcement and encourage due diligence checks by second-hand goods traders.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle van theft in (a) West Yorkshire and (b) England.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is tackling vehicle crime as a priority. 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. This includes consideration of how we can reduce the number of vehicles being stolen.
Through this Working Group, a network of vehicle crime specialists has been established across all police forces in England and Wales to share expertise.
The Government is aware of the issue of tool theft and understands the negative impact this has on victims who rely on the tools of their trade to earn a living. We have established an expert Stolen Goods Working Group with the police and academia to tackle the markets for stolen goods. The group is examining ways to make property more identifiable and traceable and are working with partners to increase enforcement and encourage due diligence checks by second-hand goods traders.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on encouraging vehicle manufacturers to take steps to help prevent the theft of keyless vehicles.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is committed to tackling vehicle crime as a priority. We continue to work closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for vehicle crime, through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, which includes representatives from the motor industry and Department for Transport, to take forward a programme of work. This work is overseen by the Government’s Crime and Justice Taskforce.
As part of this programme, the National Vehicle Crime Working Group has established a horizon-scanning group to identify potential future trends, threats and vulnerability in vehicle security and vehicle-related crime. We will continue to engage closely with academics, vehicle manufacturers and policing leads to undertake research and implement actions to mitigate future opportunities to criminally exploit technological and design changes in the automotive industry.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on tackling theft of blue badges from cars.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Current legislation provides local authorities with the means to tackle abuse of the Blue Badge scheme locally, such as the power to retain and cancel badges found to be stolen. The Department for Transport continues to work closely with local authorities aiming to improve the consistency of local enforcement to tackle fraud and misuse of the Blue Badge Scheme by acting swiftly and sharing best practice. The Department keeps the Blue Badge scheme under review and is always looking to identify potential ways to develop and improve the scheme over time to make it better for the user.
Some local authorities also offer Blue Badge holders living and working in their area the option to apply for a local disabled driver parking permit, meaning the Blue Badge is not on display while the motorist is parked in their local area.
At present, a Blue Badge can be used in any vehicle in which the badge holder is travelling and must only be displayed where the parking concessions are being used or while the badge holder is travelling in the vehicle, ensuring that enforcement officers can carry out their duties. This is a requirement of the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) Regulations 2000.
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.