To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that local authorities and agencies are sufficiently resourced to tackle those who engage in repeated anti-social behaviour and shoplifting; and what steps they are taking to ensure that those who do so cannot continue to engage in those activities without...

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that local authorities and agencies are sufficiently resourced to tackle those who engage in repeated anti-social behaviour and shoplifting; and what steps they are taking to ensure that those who do so cannot continue to engage in those activities without...

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of shoplifting in West Sussex.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of shoplifting in West Sussex.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of shoplifting in East Sussex.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of shoplifting in East Sussex.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of shoplifting in East Grinstead and Uckfield constituency.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of shoplifting in East Grinstead and Uckfield constituency.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of recent trends in levels of shoplifting in Wales.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of recent trends in levels of shoplifting in Wales.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support high street retailers affected by shoplifting.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support high street retailers affected by shoplifting.

Motion that this House has considered the matter of tackling abuse against people in customer-facing roles. Agreed to on question.

Motion that this House has considered the matter of tackling abuse against people in customer-facing roles. Agreed to on question.

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the matter of tackling abuse against people in customer-facing roles.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Hobhouse. I declare an interest as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on customer service. I am proud to speak on this...

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the matter of tackling abuse against people in customer-facing roles.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Hobhouse. I declare an interest as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on customer service. I am proud to speak on this...

This is a really important debate. In Falmouth and Truro, we have a lot of abuse of shop workers in connection with shoplifting. An issue in the past has been that people think they are immune if they shoplift something worth less than £200. That is changing and the police...

This is a really important debate. In Falmouth and Truro, we have a lot of abuse of shop workers in connection with shoplifting. An issue in the past has been that people think they are immune if they shoplift something worth less than £200. That is changing and the police...

I agree with my hon. Friend. One of my first jobs was working on a fruit and veg concession in Kwik Save. Kwik Save is no longer on the high street, but I still remember the scourge of shoplifting there, and the fear of approaching would-be shoplifters owing to the...

I agree with my hon. Friend. One of my first jobs was working on a fruit and veg concession in Kwik Save. Kwik Save is no longer on the high street, but I still remember the scourge of shoplifting there, and the fear of approaching would-be shoplifters owing to the...

The staff at St Michael’s Co-operative in Yeovil have reported to the police more than 100 incidents of shoplifting a week, but the police presence still is not forthcoming. Do you agree that rural police forces need a lot more funding?

The staff at St Michael’s Co-operative in Yeovil have reported to the police more than 100 incidents of shoplifting a week, but the police presence still is not forthcoming. Do you agree that rural police forces need a lot more funding?

Absolutely. We need more funding and we need more police on the beat. It is vital that we treat these cases seriously. There is a serious underlying threat of violence if would-be shoplifters are approached. Shop and retail workers need the assurance that when they call the police, they will...

Absolutely. We need more funding and we need more police on the beat. It is vital that we treat these cases seriously. There is a serious underlying threat of violence if would-be shoplifters are approached. Shop and retail workers need the assurance that when they call the police, they will...

I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. He is touching on broader sectors, and he is exactly right that this is an epidemic across public-facing and customer-facing roles. I recently went to a GP surgery where receptionists told me they deal with sometimes weekly incidents of racial...

I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. He is touching on broader sectors, and he is exactly right that this is an epidemic across public-facing and customer-facing roles. I recently went to a GP surgery where receptionists told me they deal with sometimes weekly incidents of racial...

I will develop that argument further, but there is nothing more depressing than seeing a sign saying, “Abuse of staff will not be tolerated,” and we seem to see them everywhere now. That was not a sign we saw before. I think things have changed since lockdown. People seem angrier...

I will develop that argument further, but there is nothing more depressing than seeing a sign saying, “Abuse of staff will not be tolerated,” and we seem to see them everywhere now. That was not a sign we saw before. I think things have changed since lockdown. People seem angrier...

My hon. Friend is being extremely generous with his time, and he is making an important speech. At a supermarket in Muirend in my constituency, there is a strong connection between other criminal actions—particularly shoplifting—and abuse of staff and sometimes physical violence towards staff. Do you agree that the UK...

My hon. Friend is being extremely generous with his time, and he is making an important speech. At a supermarket in Muirend in my constituency, there is a strong connection between other criminal actions—particularly shoplifting—and abuse of staff and sometimes physical violence towards staff. Do you agree that the UK...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right; we need a co-ordinated response, including across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. At the end of the day, this abuse does not stop at the border. It does not happen because someone is Scottish or English; it happens everywhere, and we should have a...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right; we need a co-ordinated response, including across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. At the end of the day, this abuse does not stop at the border. It does not happen because someone is Scottish or English; it happens everywhere, and we should have a...

I apologise for the intervention and congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. He has touched on a point that I was talking about with my colleagues from USDAW in Redditch, which is the number of members they have lost from the workforce who are now on benefits or...

I apologise for the intervention and congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. He has touched on a point that I was talking about with my colleagues from USDAW in Redditch, which is the number of members they have lost from the workforce who are now on benefits or...

My hon. Friend should not apologise for making an intervention like that. He is absolutely on the point there. We forget about the economic and the human costs of this. It is costing the economy billions of pounds, which could be saved if we nipped it in the bud right...

My hon. Friend should not apologise for making an intervention like that. He is absolutely on the point there. We forget about the economic and the human costs of this. It is costing the economy billions of pounds, which could be saved if we nipped it in the bud right...

It is a pleasure to speak under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I thank the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Chris Evans) for telling us the stories of this issue with passion, belief and conviction, as he so often does. He brought them to our attention capably today. It is always a...

It is a pleasure to speak under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I thank the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Chris Evans) for telling us the stories of this issue with passion, belief and conviction, as he so often does. He brought them to our attention capably today. It is always a...

I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman will join me in commending the work that organisations such as the Harrogate business improvement district do to support the town centre in Harrogate. It has recently hired a business crime officer who has 30 years’ experience in policing. Having organisations that connect the...

I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman will join me in commending the work that organisations such as the Harrogate business improvement district do to support the town centre in Harrogate. It has recently hired a business crime officer who has 30 years’ experience in policing. Having organisations that connect the...