Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 15
15
Not Addressed
Few Police and Crime Commissioners prioritise violence against retail workers in crime plans.
Recommendation
We strongly support calls for Police and Crime Commissioners to make action on violence and abuse towards retail workers a priority in police and crime plans. We are very concerned how few appear to have prioritised this in past plans, or to have recognised the human cost of retail crime. The resetting of police and crime plans, following the Police and Crime Commissioner elections in May 2021, presents a valuable window of opportunity to ensure that this previously neglected crime is properly prioritised in future. We also encourage Police and Crime Commissioners to set out in their police and crime plans how they will measure their police force’s performance in response to violence and abuse towards retail workers. A particularly effective approach for building confidence would be for local police forces, retailers and Police and Crime Commissioners to discuss and agree a performance metric for the policing response which is tailored to the challenges faced in their local area. (Paragraph 79) 64 Violence and abuse towards retail workers
Government Response Summary
The government's response details funding for additional police officers and the Safer Streets Fund, which has been expanded to include commercial areas and has allocated funds to projects focused on commercial settings. However, it does not directly commit to the committee's specific recommendation for PCCs to prioritize violence against retail workers or establish related performance metrics in their police and crime plans.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
This year (year two of the programme) we are providing £425m to spend on the recruitment of 6,000 additional officers by 2022. Of this, PCCs will receive £415m for territorial policing and Regional Organised Crime Units. The Safer Streets Fund round two was launched on 26 January 2021, and the deadline for placing bids was 25 March 2021. This second Safer Streets Fund was expanded to allow Police and Crime Commissioners and Local Authorities, across England and Wales, to invest in a wider range of crime hotspot areas, including commercial areas, such as busy high streets, and more disparate rural locations. Successful bids for round two were announced on 3 June 2021 and funding has been allocated to 50 projects. Of these projects, 23 identified that their interventions would tackle crime in a commercial setting. Four projects with funding totalling £1,726,000 have identified they will exclusively focus on commercial settings, just shy of 10% of the total funding of Safer Streets round two allocated. These projects include interventions such as: Business Watch; providing crime prevention advice and equipment to businesses; improving local CCTV and street lighting; and proving environmental improvements (such as the removal of graffiti and improving plantings). Funded interventions are expected to help improve security on highstreets to increase safety for all, supporting and empowering communities and businesses.