Recommendation 3

HM Government Accepted

The Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) is an annual survey run by the Home Office to monitor crime against businesses and their staff. The last survey was undertaken in 2018 and published in September 2019. The CVS was paused following the 2018 CVS publication to review and consult with stakeholders on how the survey could be improved. A survey was due to be held in 2020, but was delayed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Fieldwork for the 2020/21 survey is now underway, with results due to be published in March 2022. The 2020/21 survey already includes questions on incidents of hate related violence, as recommended by Professor Emmeline Taylor in her 2018 report ‘It’s not part of the job: Violence and verbal abuse towards shop workers: a review of evidence and policy’, and echoed by HASC in this recommendation. We agree a clearer picture of the prevalence of hate related incidents is needed, and the CVS provides an opportunity for the Home Office to do so. The new survey will cover the Wholesale and Retail sector only and will include new questions, with more focus on measuring the impact of crime against businesses in this sector, in terms of the financial impact as well as the impact on staff wellbeing. Previous surveys have collected data on numbers of incidents of assault against workers. However, the 2020/21 survey has greater focus on the impact of crime. It asks about types of violence (e.g. verbal or physical, and whether weapons were used), financial costs and whether the employee was injured or subsequently took time off work. It also asks about reasons for the attack, for example whether it occurred when asking a customer for ID when buying an age-restricted product, and/or whether the incident was motivated by any of the following factors: • Disability • Transgender • Race, Ethnicity or Nationality • Religion, Faith or Belief • Sexual Orientation • Don’t think it was motivated by anything in particular • Other • Don’t know The survey also includes questions aimed at assessing whether levels of violence increased during the Covid-19 pandemic and whether reasons for violent offences changed during that time. The questions for the survey are reviewed each year. An Expert Reference Group (ERG) is consulted in the development of the survey to ensure it is up to date with developments in policy or practice in respect of business crime, and to ensure the questionnaire covers relevant areas. The ERG includes retailers, retail associations and unions, academics and representatives from other Government departments.1 The ERG will next meet in spring 2022 to review the findings from the 2020/21 survey and consider whether the survey adequately covers the issue of hate-related violence and abuse. 1 The Expert Reference Group includes the following retailers and retail associations: British Retail Consortium (BRC), Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), National Farmers’ Union of England and Wales (NFU), Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW), National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN), Co-op. The Home Office has also recently sought the views of the British Retail Consortium and members of the NRCSG to support the development of the next steps for the Government’s strategic response to hate crime. The impact of Covid-19