Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle verbal and physical abuse against shop workers.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Retail crime, including shoplifting and violence and abuse, is not acceptable and the Government takes this issue very seriously. I expect police to take a zero-tolerance approach to it.
Police forces across England and Wales have recently committed to pursuing any available evidence where there is a reasonable chance it could lead to catching a perpetrator and solving a crime. For retail crime this could include reviewing CCTV evidence and using the Police National Database for facial searches to identify suspects where appropriate to do so.
The Home Office works closely with retailers and trade organisations, including the British Retail Consortium, Association of Convenience Stores and USDAW, and police partners via the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) to understand the trends in crime affecting retailers and to ensure a robust response. In recent weeks, I have met senior policing leads and retail sector representatives to discuss the recent increase in shoplifting and what we can do together to tackle it.
The Government legislated to introduce a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker via section 156 of 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.
This week is Safer Business Action Week, where the National Business Crime Centre, police and partners across the country are joining together to tackle business crime in their communities, which has my full support. The week of action will involve Business Reductions Partnerships (BCRPs), Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and the private security industry working with local police forces to deliver a focused operation with joint patrols, the targeted intervention of offenders and a range of crime prevention activity including raising awareness with the public. This week also promotes the ShopKind campaign, which signals to everybody how important this issue is and reminds customers to consider their behaviour towards shop staff.
This Government has also given the police more resources to deal with crimes, including retail crime, and, thanks to our successful uplift programme through which we recruited over 20,000 additional officers, we now have a record number of officers across forces in England and Wales.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the causes of increased levels of retail crime.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Retail crime, including shoplifting and violence and abuse, is not acceptable and the Government takes this issue very seriously. I expect police to take a zero-tolerance approach to it.
Police forces across England and Wales have recently committed to pursuing any available evidence where there is a reasonable chance it could lead to catching a perpetrator and solving a crime. For retail crime this could include reviewing CCTV evidence and using the Police National Database for facial searches to identify suspects where appropriate to do so.
The Home Office works closely with retailers and trade organisations, including the British Retail Consortium, Association of Convenience Stores and USDAW, and police partners via the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) to understand the trends in crime affecting retailers and to ensure a robust response. In recent weeks, I have met senior policing leads and retail sector representatives to discuss the recent increase in shoplifting and what we can do together to tackle it.
The Government legislated to introduce a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker via section 156 of 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.
This week is Safer Business Action Week, where the National Business Crime Centre, police and partners across the country are joining together to tackle business crime in their communities, which has my full support. The week of action will involve Business Reductions Partnerships (BCRPs), Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and the private security industry working with local police forces to deliver a focused operation with joint patrols, the targeted intervention of offenders and a range of crime prevention activity including raising awareness with the public. This week also promotes the ShopKind campaign, which signals to everybody how important this issue is and reminds customers to consider their behaviour towards shop staff.
This Government has also given the police more resources to deal with crimes, including retail crime, and, thanks to our successful uplift programme through which we recruited over 20,000 additional officers, we now have a record number of officers across forces in England and Wales.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her oral contribution of 18 September 2023, Official Report, column 1097, whether she plans to monitor the extent to which individual police forces follow up on (a) CCTV footage, (b) online evidence of resale and (c) other actionable evidence.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 28 August, the Home Secretary announced that police forces across England and Wales have committed to pursuing all leads where there is a reasonable chance it could result in catching a perpetrator and solving a crime. This commitment applies to all crime types, meaning all material and potential evidence should be considered when there is information to suggest the offender could be identified. New guidelines and updated authorised professional practice on investigation from the College of Policing provide clear direction on applying a consistent standard of service to have the greatest chance of securing a positive outcome for a victim.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services will use their existing inspections framework to assess how thoroughly forces are investigating crime, including whether they follow all reasonable lines of enquiry. We will closely monitor their findings and engage closely with the NPCC on implementation of the new College of Policing guidelines and updated authorised professional practice.
Operational decisions are a matter for individual police chiefs and their force, and each incident is looked at on a case-by-case basis on the evidence available and in proportion to the crime. As the locally elected representative for policing, PCCs are responsible for holding their Chief to account for their performance.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many attacks on shop workers have taken place in each year since 2010.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on assaults or threats on the staff of wholesale and retail premises in England and Wales as part of the Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS). The data was most recently published in May 2023 and is available at:
The CVS provides information on the proportion of premises which experienced assaults on their staff and an estimation of how frequently premises experienced these incidents. It does not provide information on the number of incidents of assaults on retail workers.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with suppliers of facial recognition technology and equipment on the use of live facial recognition surveillance in the retail sector.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Any form of retail crime is completely unacceptable, and I am determined to drive down crimes in the retail sector.
As I told the House on 19 July during the adjournment debate on retail crime, I encourage the innovative use of new technology including facial recognition, where legal and appropriate. It is for individual retailers to decide what tools to use to prevent retail crime.
I have met with companies which provide live facial recognition systems, to understand the service they provide and the impact it can have on preventing crime in retail settings.
Retailers hold a lot of information, intelligence and evidence that can assist the police; they should share information such as CCTV recordings to help police crack down on repeat offenders and criminal gangs across the country.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle (a) verbal and (b) physical abuse of shopkeepers and retail staff.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Violent and abusive behaviour towards any worker, particularly those who provide a valuable service to the public, is never acceptable and the Government takes this issue very seriously.
We have introduced a statutory aggravating factor for assault against those who are serving the public, via the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This sends a very clear signal about the unacceptability of assaults against public-facing workers.
I recently met colleagues from the retail sector and the police to discuss retail crime; and how we can take action together to tackle this important issue. Police forces across England and Wales have committed to pursuing any available evidence where there is a reasonable chance it could lead them to catching a perpetrator and solving a crime – and this includes verbal and physical abuse towards retail workers.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of retail crime reports result in a visit from a (a) police officer, (b) Community Safety Patrol Officer in (i) England and (ii) York.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Retail crime of any form, including violence and abuse, is not acceptable, and the Government takes this issue very seriously.
The Government has legislated to introduce a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker via section 156 of the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. The statutory aggravating factor applies in cases of assault where an offence is committed against those performing a public duty or providing a service to the public and ensures the courts treat the public-facing nature of a victim’s role as an aggravating factor when considering the sentence for an offence.
The Home Office works closely with retailers and trade organisations, including USDAW, and police partners via the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) to ensure that the response to crimes affecting the retail sector is as robust as it can be.
On a national level, the Home Office works closely with the police-led National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) to understand the crimes affecting businesses and help ensure businesses and police are working effectively together. The Home Office is committed to working closely with the NBCC on all aspects of business crime and has provided funding to assist with their online retail crime hub which holds vital resource assets for the retail sector, including training packages. Shopworker Videos (nbcc.police.uk)
Further training is available on the British Retail Consortium website, which hosts a dedicated resource page on behalf of the NRCSG and includes valuable links to training to help retail workers de-escalate threatening situations.DE-ESCALATION TRAINING (brc.org.uk)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on crime affecting commercial premises as part of the Commercial Victimisation Survey, which was last published in May 2023 and is available at:
This includes data on the proportion of premises which experienced a physical assault on their staff, and the responses of the police to reports of crime from commercial premises.
These data provide us with a good understanding of the prevalence to crime against retail premises. The Home Office does not hold data on the number of incidents of retail crime and as such it is not possible to calculate a proportion of retail crime incidents that were attended by the police. The Home Office also holds no information on the number of cases where CCTV or body cam evidence were collected.
Police forces across England and Wales have recently committed to pursuing any available evidence where there is a reasonable chance it could lead them to catching a perpetrator and solving a crime. For retail crime this could include reviewing CCTV evidence to identify suspects or using the Police National Database for facial searches where appropriate to do so.
I encourage the innovative use of new technology including facial recognition, where legal and appropriate. It is for individual retailers to decide what tools to use to prevent retail crime.
Operational decisions will always be a matter for individual police chiefs and their force. This Government has given the police more resources to deal with crimes, including retail crime, and, thanks to our successful uplift programme through which we recruited over 20,000 additional officers, we now have a record number of officers across forces in England and Wales. The specific data requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the proportion of retail crime reports that result in the police collecting (a) CCTV and (b) bodycam evidence.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Retail crime of any form, including violence and abuse, is not acceptable, and the Government takes this issue very seriously.
The Government has legislated to introduce a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker via section 156 of the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. The statutory aggravating factor applies in cases of assault where an offence is committed against those performing a public duty or providing a service to the public and ensures the courts treat the public-facing nature of a victim’s role as an aggravating factor when considering the sentence for an offence.
The Home Office works closely with retailers and trade organisations, including USDAW, and police partners via the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) to ensure that the response to crimes affecting the retail sector is as robust as it can be.
On a national level, the Home Office works closely with the police-led National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) to understand the crimes affecting businesses and help ensure businesses and police are working effectively together. The Home Office is committed to working closely with the NBCC on all aspects of business crime and has provided funding to assist with their online retail crime hub which holds vital resource assets for the retail sector, including training packages. Shopworker Videos (nbcc.police.uk)
Further training is available on the British Retail Consortium website, which hosts a dedicated resource page on behalf of the NRCSG and includes valuable links to training to help retail workers de-escalate threatening situations.DE-ESCALATION TRAINING (brc.org.uk)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on crime affecting commercial premises as part of the Commercial Victimisation Survey, which was last published in May 2023 and is available at:
This includes data on the proportion of premises which experienced a physical assault on their staff, and the responses of the police to reports of crime from commercial premises.
These data provide us with a good understanding of the prevalence to crime against retail premises. The Home Office does not hold data on the number of incidents of retail crime and as such it is not possible to calculate a proportion of retail crime incidents that were attended by the police. The Home Office also holds no information on the number of cases where CCTV or body cam evidence were collected.
Police forces across England and Wales have recently committed to pursuing any available evidence where there is a reasonable chance it could lead them to catching a perpetrator and solving a crime. For retail crime this could include reviewing CCTV evidence to identify suspects or using the Police National Database for facial searches where appropriate to do so.
I encourage the innovative use of new technology including facial recognition, where legal and appropriate. It is for individual retailers to decide what tools to use to prevent retail crime.
Operational decisions will always be a matter for individual police chiefs and their force. This Government has given the police more resources to deal with crimes, including retail crime, and, thanks to our successful uplift programme through which we recruited over 20,000 additional officers, we now have a record number of officers across forces in England and Wales. The specific data requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the proportion of reports of a retail security guard apprehending a perpetrator of retail crime that result in a visit from a police officer.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Retail crime of any form, including violence and abuse, is not acceptable, and the Government takes this issue very seriously.
The Government has legislated to introduce a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker via section 156 of the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. The statutory aggravating factor applies in cases of assault where an offence is committed against those performing a public duty or providing a service to the public and ensures the courts treat the public-facing nature of a victim’s role as an aggravating factor when considering the sentence for an offence.
The Home Office works closely with retailers and trade organisations, including USDAW, and police partners via the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) to ensure that the response to crimes affecting the retail sector is as robust as it can be.
On a national level, the Home Office works closely with the police-led National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) to understand the crimes affecting businesses and help ensure businesses and police are working effectively together. The Home Office is committed to working closely with the NBCC on all aspects of business crime and has provided funding to assist with their online retail crime hub which holds vital resource assets for the retail sector, including training packages. Shopworker Videos (nbcc.police.uk)
Further training is available on the British Retail Consortium website, which hosts a dedicated resource page on behalf of the NRCSG and includes valuable links to training to help retail workers de-escalate threatening situations.DE-ESCALATION TRAINING (brc.org.uk)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on crime affecting commercial premises as part of the Commercial Victimisation Survey, which was last published in May 2023 and is available at:
This includes data on the proportion of premises which experienced a physical assault on their staff, and the responses of the police to reports of crime from commercial premises.
These data provide us with a good understanding of the prevalence to crime against retail premises. The Home Office does not hold data on the number of incidents of retail crime and as such it is not possible to calculate a proportion of retail crime incidents that were attended by the police. The Home Office also holds no information on the number of cases where CCTV or body cam evidence were collected.
Police forces across England and Wales have recently committed to pursuing any available evidence where there is a reasonable chance it could lead them to catching a perpetrator and solving a crime. For retail crime this could include reviewing CCTV evidence to identify suspects or using the Police National Database for facial searches where appropriate to do so.
I encourage the innovative use of new technology including facial recognition, where legal and appropriate. It is for individual retailers to decide what tools to use to prevent retail crime.
Operational decisions will always be a matter for individual police chiefs and their force. This Government has given the police more resources to deal with crimes, including retail crime, and, thanks to our successful uplift programme through which we recruited over 20,000 additional officers, we now have a record number of officers across forces in England and Wales. The specific data requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department holds on the average time taken by police to attend a report of retail crime when a suspect has been detained.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Retail crime of any form, including violence and abuse, is not acceptable, and the Government takes this issue very seriously.
The Government has legislated to introduce a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker via section 156 of the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. The statutory aggravating factor applies in cases of assault where an offence is committed against those performing a public duty or providing a service to the public and ensures the courts treat the public-facing nature of a victim’s role as an aggravating factor when considering the sentence for an offence.
The Home Office works closely with retailers and trade organisations, including USDAW, and police partners via the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) to ensure that the response to crimes affecting the retail sector is as robust as it can be.
On a national level, the Home Office works closely with the police-led National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) to understand the crimes affecting businesses and help ensure businesses and police are working effectively together. The Home Office is committed to working closely with the NBCC on all aspects of business crime and has provided funding to assist with their online retail crime hub which holds vital resource assets for the retail sector, including training packages. Shopworker Videos (nbcc.police.uk)
Further training is available on the British Retail Consortium website, which hosts a dedicated resource page on behalf of the NRCSG and includes valuable links to training to help retail workers de-escalate threatening situations.DE-ESCALATION TRAINING (brc.org.uk)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on crime affecting commercial premises as part of the Commercial Victimisation Survey, which was last published in May 2023 and is available at:
This includes data on the proportion of premises which experienced a physical assault on their staff, and the responses of the police to reports of crime from commercial premises.
These data provide us with a good understanding of the prevalence to crime against retail premises. The Home Office does not hold data on the number of incidents of retail crime and as such it is not possible to calculate a proportion of retail crime incidents that were attended by the police. The Home Office also holds no information on the number of cases where CCTV or body cam evidence were collected.
Police forces across England and Wales have recently committed to pursuing any available evidence where there is a reasonable chance it could lead them to catching a perpetrator and solving a crime. For retail crime this could include reviewing CCTV evidence to identify suspects or using the Police National Database for facial searches where appropriate to do so.
I encourage the innovative use of new technology including facial recognition, where legal and appropriate. It is for individual retailers to decide what tools to use to prevent retail crime.
Operational decisions will always be a matter for individual police chiefs and their force. This Government has given the police more resources to deal with crimes, including retail crime, and, thanks to our successful uplift programme through which we recruited over 20,000 additional officers, we now have a record number of officers across forces in England and Wales. The specific data requested is not held centrally.