In response to an email sent 03/03/3025, the following reply was received:
DECS Reference: TRO/1287765/25
March 2025
Thank you for your correspondence of 3 March 2025 to the Home Secretary and Minister Johnson about the measures in the Crime and Policing Bill aimed at reducing vehicle crime. Your correspondence has been passed to officials in the Home Office Neighbourhood Crime Unit for a response.
Vehicle theft is a truly distressing crime, and to be clear, attempting to or stealing a vehicle is illegal. This Government recognises the negative impact car thefts have had on individuals, businesses, and industry.
According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, from April 2022 to March 2023, an offender manipulated signal from remote locking device was used in 40% of vehicle thefts. As you noted, in the Crime and Policing Bill, which had its second reading on 10 March, we have brought forward legislation to ban electronic devices used to steal vehicles, empowering the police and courts to target the criminals using, manufacturing and supplying them. The maximum sentence for this offence is five years imprisonment for conviction on indictment.
We are also working with the automotive industry and police to ensure our response to vehicle crime is as strong as it can be. We work closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, through a National Vehicle Crime Working Group, to take forward a programme of work to drive down vehicle crime. Also, last autumn (2024), the National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership began work, bringing together the police, Home Office and manufacturers.
The Government provided funding to set up the Partnership. We also provided £250,000 funding in the last financial year to help support enforcement at the ports to prevent stolen vehicles and vehicle parts being shipped abroad, including additional staff and specialist equipment.
Thank you for flagging the mistake in the vehicle crime section of the Crime and Policing Bill: Serious crime factsheet – GOV.UKCrime and Policing Bill: Serious crime factsheet – GOV.UK. We will ensure it is corrected as a matter of priority.
Thank you for raising this important issue. We hope this information reassures you that the Government is taking action to prevent vehicle crime. Thank you once again for taking the time to write to the Home Office.
Yours sincerely,
Neighbourhood Crime Unit