My Lords, Amendment 114 is in my name. We discussed it in Committee and I have studied at great length the response from the Minister. Unfortunately, it has not satisfied many retail traders, whose income depends on crime being prevented. The consequences for shop insurance and livelihoods depend on proper action on low-level crimes.
In 2014, a change in the law meant that shop theft valued at less than £200 would not be charged through the courts but, rather, would be tried summarily. The reasoning behind that was to make the prosecution of cases more efficient. The Government may claim that that has happened, but that is only because the courts no longer see the problem and no longer see that it takes an average of 30 convictions for this type of criminal to go to jail. The burden has fallen on small retailers, who now see savvy criminals exploiting the situation to steal with virtual impunity.
The cost of retail crime to retailers is huge. My noble friend Lady Harris mentioned the cost, according to figures supplied to us by the British Retail Consortium, to those such as members of the British Independent Retailers Association. Money that could otherwise be used to improve facilities, raise wages and improve the offers to consumers instead goes straight into the pockets of criminals.
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That is not a trend that is in reverse. Retail crimes are rising year on year, with an overall increase of 19.1% between 2014 and 2018, compared with an increase of 4.96% between 2010 and 2014 before this threshold was in place. This is reflected on the ground too. In the most recent crime report taken across members of the British Independent Retailers Association, two-thirds of BIRA members reported that most crimes against their business were valued at less than £200 and that there has been a disproportionate increase in this type of crime since the threshold was put in place.
Of course, the reduction in resources available to police forces undoubtedly poses challenges. It cannot be good when John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation, acknowledges that shoplifting is
“increasingly likely not to be attended by officers”,
and forces such as Thames Valley Police inform local shops that they will not send out officers to deal with shoplifters who steal less than £100-worth of goods. How can this foster trust and build confidence? It cannot; it means that many businesses feel as if they
are alone in this fight—a fight that is a risk to their very business. To put it into context, a small business owner working on a typical margin of 8% will need to sell £2,500-worth of goods to make back £200 of stolen goods, with independent retailers such as John Barlow in Nottingham reporting that police
“are basically telling thieves, ‘Help yourselves’. Of course, there are more serious crimes police need to solve but you can’t just give thieves a licence to steal.”
The Government are aware that there is a problem and it is appreciated by retailers that the Minister in the Home Office talked to chief police officers in July 2020 to say that retail crime should not be tolerated. However, that is not enough. Retail crime is going up; it is just the number of convictions going down. Just one in 20 of all shoplifting offences are now prosecuted, while the number of cautions for such thefts—of all values—has fallen from 40,000 to just 5,000 in a decade, according to figures obtained by a freedom of information request.
The Government are putting the burden of this crime on the retailer, not the court system, to claim efficiency. But giving a criminal the equivalent of parking ticket will not make them stop. It just means that the only person who sees the punishment is the postman delivering the fine. The criminal themselves will see this as a minor inconvenience as opposed to a reason to stop.
I urge the Government to reconsider their position and use this perfect opportunity to remove this clause and show solidarity with our retailers. Perhaps the Minister would like to meet a delegation of representatives of small traders. I look forward to her response.