Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Not Addressed
Paragraph: 57
Police guidance for retail workers insufficient to address perception of inaction on retail crime.
Recommendation
We welcome the guidance for retail workers on when to use emergency and non- emergency numbers when seeking a police response and, in particular, setting out risk factors which will help the police respond appropriately to incidents. However, we do not believe that two A4 pages of guidance is a sufficient response to tackle the damaging perception that the police “don’t care” about retail crime.
Government Response Summary
The government details existing and ongoing work by the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) and its Task and Finish groups, including the establishment of two new groups on substance misuse and information sharing. However, the response does not specifically outline new actions to address the committee's concern about the perception that police 'don't care' about retail crime.
Paragraph Reference:
57
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
National leadership in the response to retail crime is provided by the NRCSG. The NRCSG is an ongoing forum which brings together Government, the police, retailers and others to help ensure the response to retail crimes is as robust as it can be. The NRCSG meets approximately every six months and is co-chaired by the Minister for Crime and Policing, Kit Malthouse, and Tom Ironside, Director of Business and Regulation at the British Retail Consortium. The Task and Finish groups were project groups tasked with addressing specific actions from the Government’s response to the Call for Evidence on Violence and Abuse Toward Shop Staff. The objectives agreed with the NRCSG were achieved, and the outcomes met the actions in the Call for Evidence. The resources produced by the four Task and Finish groups established in June 2020 were published in April 2021 and will be kept under review by the Home Office working with members of the NRCSG, and will be updated as needed. The four Task and Finish groups produced the following resources: • The communications group: the #Shopkind communications for both employees and employers to make clear violence and abuse of shop workers is not tolerated; • The reporting group: a best practice guide to support staff in reporting these crimes when they occur and to ensure a suitable response can be delivered; • The data sharing group: good practice on effective data sharing between businesses and the police to ensure information can be used to better understand the problem; and • The victims’ group: resources to support victims, and to assist employers in supporting their employees. In June 2021 we set up two new Task and Finish groups: • Substance misuse: to look at the causes of retail violence, such as drug and alcohol addiction, and what can be done to address these in the retail setting; • Information sharing: to take forward issues identified by both the Reporting and Data Sharing Task and Finish groups, to provide greater clarity on data protection standards under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and explore the development of a national Information Sharing Agreement.