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Home Office

Answer

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of (a) the average cost per incident of theft, (b) the average loss per completed burglary and (c) the average loss per completed robbery to the retail sector in (i) 2001, (ii) 2002 and (iii) 2003; what the level of incidence of (A) violence against staff and (B) completed robbery in the retail sector was in each year; and if he will make a statement. [202140] Ms Blears: The Home Office does not collect these figures on a regular basis. However a commercial victimisation survey was carried out in 2002 which covered the incidence and cost of crime suffered by retailers in the preceding 12 months. A summary of the findings of that survey was published on the 26 November and is available on the Home Office website http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/ rfpubs1.html. A detailed report of the findings is due to be published in spring 2005. The British Retail Consortium carry out a regular survey of their members. Relevant findings from their annual surveys are set out as follows: _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Average value of Average stock loss Incidents of Average loss per Incidents of goods stolen by per completed robbery per 100 robbery violence per 1,000 customers burglary outlets staff 2001 111 1,858 6 1,003 7 2002 88 2,722 5 1,967 6 2003 162 4,881 8 1,677 7 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Source: BRC 10 Annual Survey and 11 Annual Survey The Government recognises the detrimental impact that crime can have on retailers, their staff and the communities they serve and is taking positive action to reduce it. On 12 October 2004 I met with senior retailers and their trade associations to discuss the key issues faced by retailers and to seek their views on joint action to reduce retail crime. Actions coming out of this will build on the work already under way. The Home Office has supported the work of the British Retail Consortium in developing retail crime reduction partnerships and is providing 899 of funding for them to set up the Action Against Business Crime (AABC) Group. This Group will provide a national network of business crime reduction partnerships in town and shopping centres across England and Wales. 100 new partnerships will be set up in addition to the 100 or so already established, who will be provided with a support network. Recognising that a large proportion of retail crime is drug related, pilot outreach schemes have been set up, with £170,000 Home Office funding, in Brighton and Northampton to tackle the link between retail crime and drugs misuse. We have recently completed the "Small Retailers in Deprived Areas' initiative which provided £15 million of government funding to the most vulnerable businesses to enable them to install security measures. Over 12,500 businesses benefited from the scheme which also included a training programme on crime reduction for retailers. Advice on crime reduction information is available from the Home Office produced postcards "Don't Discount Crime" and "Putting Crime out of Business", both of which provide easily accessible crime reduction advice to small businesses. These are available on the Home Office website. The Health and Safety Executive has also produced specific advice on managing the risk of work related violence. Retailers can obtain further specific advice and assistance on crime reduction from the Business Crime Reduction Advisers based in each of the Government Offices, the Home Office website and their trade associations. From November 2004 the police will be able to issue fixed penalty notices for some cases of retail or commercial theft. This will ensure that more minor incidents of such theft are dealt with quickly and effectively and the 80 penalty will act as a strong deterrent for first time offenders.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

202140; 428 c1546-7W;428 c1544-5W

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Crime prevention Crime Crimes of violence Costs Government assistance Staff Shops Retail trade Theft Shoplifting Robbery

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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