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1-20 of 21 results for house:"House of Lords"

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Lord Hanson of Flint
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Crimes of violence

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Hanson of Flint, Lord (21)

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Crimes of violence (21)

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To ask His Majesty's Government how many children aged 10 to 13 have been arrested for (1) common assault, (2) actual bodily harm, (3) inflicting grievous bodily harm, and (4) causing grievous bodily harm with intent, in each of the past five years.

Asked by
Lord Davies of Gower (Conservative)
Answering body
Home Office
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Date
27 July 2026
Reference
HL2246
House
House of Lords

Violence and abuse towards retail workers is unacceptable. Through the Crime and Policing Act 2026, the Government have created a new stand-alone offence of assaulting a retail worker, which we are working to commence as soon as possible. We are also restoring neighbourhood policing to tackle retail crime and improve safety for retail workers, with more than 3,100 additional neighbourhood officers and PCSOs since March 2025. I declare my interest as a long-standing member of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers.

Answered by
Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour)
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
14 July 2026
Reference
858 c517
House
House of Lords

Violence against shop workers is properly prioritised. In fact, recorded shop theft fell by 1% in the year to December, the number of charges for shop theft rose by 21% over the previous year and a British Retail Consortium report has shown that violence and abuse fell from 2,000 incidents a day to 1,600. As somebody who has sat in a shop front and worked in a shop, I know that such abuse is not acceptable. I know the threats that people face. We have invested £5 million into Operation Opal, which is a specialist policing unit, so we do take this issue seriously. When we bring the measures forward, they will be a further deterrent to those who choose to attack shop workers and undertake shop theft. I welcome my noble friend’s support.

Answered by
Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour)
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
14 July 2026
Reference
858 c518
House
House of Lords

We have done two things that the previous Government did not do. We have introduced an offence of assault on a shop worker and lifted the £200 threshold under which the police did not have to report and act on shop theft. I remind the noble Baroness that, as a shadow Minister in the other place in 2014, I opposed the £200 limit and have since had the pleasure of lifting it as a Minister. We take this matter seriously. Shop theft is a cost to us all. It is a cost to the workers who face those threats, to the businesses—particularly small ones—and to all of us as purchasers of goods. We must drive it down. That is what the figures show that we are trying to do; it is not an easy task to drive it down still further, but we have to take further action.

Answered by
Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour)
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
14 July 2026
Reference
858 c518
House
House of Lords

The noble Baroness is absolutely right. It is not acceptable and should be looked at. The legislation covers those potential online threats in other areas, but the bottom line, going back to my noble friend’s Question, is that we are asking shop workers to uphold sales of cigarettes, alcohol, solvents and a whole range of other things and to help prevent people walking into a store feeling that they can steal something with no recourse whatever. We are trying to say through policing, the legislation that we

have passed and support for the type of areas that the noble Baroness has mentioned that shop theft—I will not call it “shoplifting”—is unacceptable. We need to drive it down.

Answered by
Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour)
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
14 July 2026
Reference
858 c518
House
House of Lords

My noble friend is right. I was pleased to visit Brixton with her some months back to look at this issue and to see the impact of shop theft on a range of shop owners. We have given additional resources to specific police forces, including the Met, to deal with town centre disturbances and shop theft. That operation is ongoing. The Policing Minister in the Home Office chairs a regular meeting with the lead chief constables on this matter. We have also put great emphasis on looking at the range of other issues, including facial recognition for persistent offenders. There has been a consultation on that recently, which we intend to respond to shortly. Overall, if there are persistent offenders, we have a range of mechanisms, including those passed through the Crime and Policing Act, such as respect orders banning people from particular areas of a community. I hope that the full force of all those will further reduce this plague.

Answered by
Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour)
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
14 July 2026
Reference
858 c519
House
House of Lords

I am always happy to meet any businesses with colleagues. We have put £10 million of funding, announced in the Budget, into the very issue that she mentioned. We have increased dedicated support for the National Crime Agency to tackle high street money laundering. We have had a multi-agency crackdown on money laundering through the high street. We have had an HMRC targeted surge against tax evasion and illicit finance in the high street, and we will undertake further closures of premises that are not performing as they should, because they are undermining legitimate businesses. A lot has been done, but I accept that there is a lot more that can be done.

Answered by
Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour)
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
14 July 2026
Reference
858 c519
House
House of Lords

Yes, we have. We have highlighted particular areas through the policing assessment of shop theft, and we have identified a number of areas where we have been able to put in resource to do that. We have also, dare I say, increased the number of police officers on the beat. We have a commitment to increase that by a significant number. We have managed 3,100 in the 18 months or so that we have been in office, and we intend to increase that. With our police reforms, we intend to give additional support to look at what the priorities are at a local level, with smaller police forces more focused on neighbourhood policing. I look forward to the noble Lord’s support on those measures.

Answered by
Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour)
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
14 July 2026
Reference
858 c520
House
House of Lords

We take a whole of government approach to this. One of the reasons why we are looking at the range of issues on retail crime implementation is to make sure that we can manage new pressures in the system. The noble Lord is right: it is important from the Home Office’s perspective that we catch them or prevent them, but for the Ministry of Justice and other departments it is important that we have speedy justice and, if need be, imprison them. That is a whole of government approach. The key point I would leave the House with is that this is a really important issue.

Answered by
Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour)
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
14 July 2026
Reference
858 c520
House
House of Lords

It is extremely important that we prevent crime. That is why it is important that we go back to the ultimate basics on this. If people at school age involve themselves in retail crime, there need to be efforts and support to give them an alternative lifestyle. Retail crime does grow, and people who engage in what they would term low-level activity will find themselves at some time doing higher-level, more damaging activity. I go back to the basic principle that shop theft damages the shops, it damages all of us as

consumers, it damages the individuals who undertake it and we have to try to drive it down. To do that, we have put in place measures on prevention of retail attacks and measures of change to shift the balance so the police can focus on shop theft. On the point the noble Baroness made about early intervention, if people are involved and come to the attention of the authorities, there should be mechanisms to help support them to turn away from that life.

Answered by
Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour)
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
14 July 2026
Reference
858 c520
House
House of Lords

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to tackle rising violence against retail workers.

Asked by
Lord Walker of Broxton (Labour)
Oral questions - Lead
Status
Answered
Date
14 July 2026
Reference
858 cc517-520
House
House of Lords

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of violence against retail workers; and what action they are taking to address any increase.

Asked by
Lord Walker of Broxton (Labour)
Answering body
Home Office
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Date
27 April 2026
Reference
HL16388
House
House of Lords

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.

Asked by
Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative)
Answering body
Home Office
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Date
23 December 2025
Reference
HL12567
House
House of Lords

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Crime and Policing Bill in its current form will see the protection of workers in quick service restaurants and food-to-go-style operators whose work has a functional overlap with their retail counterparts; and what, if any, impact assessment of such provisions has been undertaken.

Asked by
Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative)
Answering body
Home Office
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Date
23 December 2025
Reference
HL12566
House
House of Lords

To ask His Majesty's Government whether it is their intention that hospitality venues responsible for upholding the law on the sale of alcohol, cigarettes, solvents and other restricted products will see equal protection under the new offence of assaulting a retail worker in the Crime and Policing Bill.

Asked by
Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative)
Answering body
Home Office
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Date
23 December 2025
Reference
HL12569
House
House of Lords

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Crime and Policing Bill will protect workers in fast food and takeaway restaurants in the same way as those working in the retail sector.

Asked by
Lord Evans of Rainow (Conservative)
Answering body
Home Office
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Date
15 December 2025
Reference
HL12489
House
House of Lords

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the definition of 'retail premises' in clause 37(2) of the Crime and Policing Bill extends to hospitality premises that also undertake retail activities.

Asked by
Lord Evans of Rainow (Conservative)
Answering body
Home Office
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Date
15 December 2025
Reference
HL12490
House
House of Lords

To ask His Majesty's Government whether those working in hospitality venues that sell restricted products such as alcohol, cigarettes and solvents will receive equal protection under the new offence of assaulting a retail worker under the Crime and Policing Bill.

Asked by
Lord Evans of Rainow (Conservative)
Answering body
Home Office
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Date
15 December 2025
Reference
HL12492
House
House of Lords

Lords second reading. Agreed to on question. Lords motion that the bill be committed to a Committee of the Whole House and instruction on order of clauses to be taken. Agreed to on question.

Lead member
Baroness Levitt
Answering member
Lord Hanson of Flint; Lord Keen of Elie; Lord Davies of Gower
Department
Home Office; Ministry of Justice
Type
Debates on bills
Date
16 October 2025
Reference
849 cc374-467
House
House of Lords

To ask His Majesty's Government whether there are port facilities for drivers to be supported against the risk of violence from migrants hiding in their vehicles.

Asked by
Lord Goddard of Stockport (Liberal Democrat)
Answering body
Home Office
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Date
23 May 2025
Reference
HL7352
House
House of Lords