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Home Office

Answer

Mr. Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made on adopting the use of electronic data tags to reduce property crime. [160482] Mr. Charles Clarke: In May last year, the Government announced the allocation of £4.5 million to combat the trade in stolen goods by planting small identity microchips in consumer products at risk from theft. In partnership with a range of commercial companies, we are developing a series of pilot demonstrator projects to show how property crime can be reduced throughout the supply chain. These pilot projects aim to demonstrate the effectiveness of radio frequency identification technology (RFID) in combating property crime by providing proof of ownership of goods and confirming that they are not stolen or counterfeit. The initiative aims to make it more difficult for offenders to steal and sell stolen property, easier for the police to recover it when they do, and to accelerate the adoption of this technology by business. The response from industry to the scheme has been excellent and details of the first pilot projects will be announced very shortly. In view of the high level of interest generated, I am pleased to announce that the Government have allocated an additional £1 million to this initiative to allow the number and scope of pilot projects to be increased.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

367 c705-6W; 160482

Session

2000-01

Subjects

Crime prevention Crimes against property Consumer goods Finance Electronic tagging Identification Pilot schemes Ownership Theft Microprocessors Chipping of goods initiative

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk