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The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S6M-14053, in the name of Sharon Dowey, on addressing retail crime and antisocial behaviour. The debate will be concluded without any question being put. I encourage members who wish to participate to press their request-to-speak buttons.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament notes the view that addressing retail crime and antisocial behaviour should be a priority for both the Scottish and UK governments; acknowledges and deplores the reported significant increase in abuse and violence towards shop workers and rise in shoplifting, which it understands is often the main factor behind abuse and threats, with official data reportedly showing a 21% annual increase in shoplifting incidents; understands that the British Retail Consortium’s latest crime survey reveals that there are 1,300 incidents of violence or abuse against retail workers daily, double the number prior to the COVID-19 pandemic; expresses concern over the reported £1.8 billion cost of retail theft in the last reporting year and the £1.2 billion spent by shops on crime prevention measures such as CCTV and body-worn cameras; highlights what it sees as the importance of the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021 in improving visibility and legal protection for retail workers in Scotland, including in the South Scotland region; notes the Scottish Retail Consortium’s call for a greater prioritisation of retail crime by government and law enforcement; further notes the calls on the Scottish Government to provide the police and courts the necessary direction and resources to prosecute offenders; notes the calls for better reporting of incidents by retailers to ensure a fuller picture of the problem, and further notes what it sees as the need for public communication campaigns to explain any new mandated rules on the selling of regulated products in store, which can often be a common trigger for flashpoints, and to make clear that poor customer behaviour will not be tolerated.
12:53
I am pleased to have the opportunity to raise this pressing issue in Parliament. Retail crime and antisocial behaviour are growing problems, and they must be urgently tackled as they have a hugely detrimental impact not only on workers but on businesses and communities across Scotland.
I am passionate about the issue. Before I became an MSP, I worked in retail for more than 30 years, so I am well aware of the impact on people’s physical and mental health, and of the damage that it causes to businesses and our economy. Abuse and violence were often part of the job then, but were far less common than they are now. Retailers paint a stark picture of the magnitude of the issues that they face and of the difficulties in tackling the problem without more support from the police or Government.
This morning, I was pleased to meet more than a dozen retailers, who told me about the scale of the challenges that they face and the level of antisocial behaviour that shop workers have to put up with, from littering, throwing food and verbal abuse to assault, knife threats and worse.
A recent report by the Scottish Grocers Federation highlights just how bad the situation has become. It reveals an incident in which staff had to confront a man who was wielding a dirty needle. Other incidents include a man throwing a bike and threatening to stab staff; a man hurling a glass bottle; a man pulling a knife on staff when he was asked to return bottles of vodka; and another man trying to bite a worker. In another incident, a group tried to run over a security team in a car when they were challenged in the car park. Those are all horrifying stories. Nobody should have to face such danger when they go to work.
The report also includes a survey of retailers that demonstrates that shoplifting has become a daily occurrence and that violence against staff happens every week. The recent recorded crime in Scotland statistics reveal just how much the problem has been allowed to escalate. When I lodged my motion, the increase in shoplifting was 21 per cent, but the most recent figures show a rise of 34 per cent. In the area that I represent, there was a 40 per cent rise in East Ayrshire and a 22 per cent rise in South Ayrshire—and worryingly, as I heard this morning, those figures only cover reported incidents. Many shops have given up reporting incidents to overstretched and underresourced police, so these criminal acts are allowed to happen without justice being delivered. Indeed, the report highlights that 76 per cent of SGF members are
“unlikely or very unlikely to report shoplifting incidents to the police.”
Behind all those statistics are real people who are simply trying to go about their work or run their businesses. They just want to earn a living, but they are being denied that opportunity, and the impact spreads across the communities that they serve and all of the people who rely on small shops.
On the recent recorded crime figures, David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said:
“Shoplifting isn’t a victimless crime. Shoplifting is the main factor behind abuse and threats towards shop workers and we know from member feedback that thieves are becoming bolder and more aggressive.”
He added:
“The financial costs too are enormous and are ultimately borne by shoppers themselves; in some cases through higher prices on shop shelves.
With a swathe of new mandated rules in the pipeline or under consideration, and which may lead to more flashpoints in store, the SRC wants tackling crime against retailers to be made a greater priority by the authorities, including in the Scottish government’s Strategic Police Priorities, to ensure our shops are made safer.”
The member lists the problems that we face. I think that we are all in agreement on those. I do not know whether she was at the cross-party group on independent convenience stores on Tuesday, when a lot of this was discussed, but does she have any practical solutions other than those that involve more money being spent or having higher taxes? How does she think that, in practice, we can deal with the issue?
I am covering that in my speech, and there is more to come. We need to get more police on our streets and do more to retain the police officers that we already have. There are suggestions in my speech, if the member wants to listen.
The Scottish Retail Consortium previously pointed out that
“Thieves are becoming more brazen and aggressive”,
and it said:
“This isn’t just affecting convenience stores but chemists, garden centres, fashion stores, and retailers more widely. The impact is being felt across all retail destinations.”
That is all happening despite stores taking real action to try to prevent it. They have spent fortunes on closed-circuit television, body-worn cameras and other attempts to protect workers. Some stores supply their security guards with stab-proof vests. However, those things are not making much of a difference, because the problem is so widespread.
The consequences for criminals are almost non-existent. Not only do offenders get away with it, but they are almost encouraged to keep doing it because there are no repercussions. This Government must face the reality that allowing police officer numbers to fall to the lowest level in more than a decade has real-world consequences. It is sending a message to criminals that they can get away with crimes or face very little punishment—or, as I heard this morning, no punishment.
What needs to happen to change that and to give retail workers the protection that they deserve? First, Police Scotland needs more resources. The aim should be to increase front-line officer numbers and retain those officers that we already have. Without more officers responding quickly to these crimes, thieves will never be caught and shops will be—as they are—discouraged from even reporting abusive or violent behaviour.
As I heard at this morning’s meeting, 70 per cent of the crimes are caused by 10 per cent of the offenders, so there needs to be more investigation of the crimes and we must ensure that there are consequences for those who commit them.
I also stress that we need to keep our officers safe by issuing them with body-worn cameras. We have already heard that that would be a game changer. Anything that we can do to improve officers’ safety should be implemented as soon as possible. That could also help retain the officers that we already have.
Secondly, there must be better means of reporting incidents by retailers so that problem areas can be quickly identified and targeted, and crimes prevented. As it stands, retailers do not believe that that is happening.
Thirdly, more consideration needs to be given to the pressures that the Government is imposing on workers and businesses. Rules on the selling of products are often a flashpoint for abuse or violence, and the Government is looking to expand the use of those rules in the future. For instance, the challenges that the SRC has cited include September’s rise in the minimum unit price for alcohol, upcoming restrictions on the sale of vapes and tobacco, proposed new rules on the location in-store of alcohol products and a disposable cup levy. If those proposals are to go ahead, they should be communicated clearly to the public at large. The rules must be explained, because I heard this morning that retailers are already concerned about the imminent increase in MUP and the lack of public awareness through Scottish Government communication. Clear signals must be sent that abusive or violent customer behaviour is unacceptable and will face punishment.
So far, the Scottish Government has not acted decisively on retail crime. The issues that were raised this morning included a lack of police officers, police response times, making it easier to log incidents and on-going issues with bus passes. The Government has let down workers and businesses through inaction.
I hope that the debate will shed more light on the challenges that front-line staff face, and that it will kick-start not only a conversation but action on how we can solve the issues, so that nobody faces threats in their workplace every day.
Because of the 2 o’clock restart for afternoon business, we are a little tight for time, so I would be grateful if members could stick to their speaking time allocations. We move to the open debate.
13:03
I commend Sharon Dowey for bringing this important debate to the chamber. Similarly, I commend Bob Doris, who brought a related debate—on tackling the misuse of off-road vehicles—just last week. Those issues affect constituencies across Scotland, particularly in urban areas, and should not be underestimated.
The importance of retail to the economy has already been well stated by Sharon Dowey. The issues of retail crime and antisocial behaviour that she highlighted are of concern in my constituency. I have met a number of leading supermarkets, which have briefed me on the problems that they have faced and the issues that their staff have been confronting for some time, as well as the fact that those issues have been on the rise.
The same issues affect small businesses. Not too far from the Parliament, I visited businesses in my constituency that have dealt with a number of issues across the summer, in order to help them to secure a more regular police presence to address the matter.
We in the Parliament celebrated small businesses just a few days ago, when Audrey Nicoll brought a debate on the 50th anniversary of the Federation of Small Businesses to the chamber. If our big supermarkets and other big retailers are struggling with the issue, I ask members to imagine what it is like for one or two people to deal with.
We have to prioritise the issue—and the misuse of off-road vehicles—which is of growing concern. Although perpetrated by a very small group of people, the economic and social impacts are significant, and it is becoming a growing trend. In addition to today’s debate, I encourage the Government to have a debate in Government time as a follow-up on those matters. Although, in many ways, this is an operational issue for Police Scotland—and there is a question of resource and the allocation of resource—does it need to be prioritised more in dense urban areas such as the constituency that I represent and the region that Sharon Dowey represents, to try to get on top of the issue and to suppress it as a trend?
Our approach should also involve other smart justice interventions such as youth work to help the minority of young people who engage in such behaviour. They are sometimes utilised by organised crime organisations, because their age makes a difference as to how they are treated in the criminal justice system.
According to figures from the Scottish Grocers Federation, 49 per cent of shop theft is committed by repeat offenders who have drug or alcohol addictions. That shows that the issue overlaps with our approach to supporting people out of such addictions. For example, I increasingly believe that we need to introduce a safe consumption room, or perhaps more than one, in Edinburgh. We need to work across Government on this difficult issue and adopt a multifaceted approach to achieving solutions. Another example would be the idea of removing offenders’ use of bus passes where required, which we debated some time ago. We must seriously consider whether passes should be removed from offenders for a period if they continue to engage in criminal and antisocial behaviour.
Retail crime and antisocial behaviour are growing concerns. If we do not get on top of them, they will not only continue to cause real problems for shop workers and our communities but undermine the concept of the rule of law. That would be a real problem for all of us.
13:06
I thank my friend and colleague Sharon Dowey for bringing this important issue to the Scottish Parliament. I also thank all the organisations that supplied members’ briefings for the debate. I welcome to the public gallery David Lonsdale, who is director of the Scottish Retail Consortium.
Retail crime and antisocial behaviour represent a significant issue in Scotland. Figures from Police Scotland show that, between August 2021 and January 2024, 10,295 incidents of shoplifting were reported. In addition, 92.8 per cent of respondents to a survey conducted by the Scottish Grocers Federation reported that violence against staff occurs weekly. The same survey found that more than a third of businesses that responded had experienced incidents of violence involving perpetrators who used weapons.
This morning, I attended a round-table meeting on retail crime, which was hosted by my colleague Sharon Dowey and chaired by David Lonsdale. We heard that businesses are having to combat not only shoplifting but violent crimes, which often involve the use of dangerous weapons, such as knives. I will share some of the issues that were highlighted at that meeting. One representative referred to the psychological harm that is caused to retailers, and they gave the example of a retail worker who had suffered a miscarriage. Others expressed concerns about the young age of perpetrators, many of whom are under the age of 16, who engage in violent behaviour that has no consequences. Another representative said that bookshop staff often face violence from perpetrators who are opposed to certain books being sold there, while another highlighted that only one police officer is responsible for investigating retail crime across Scotland.
Shoplifting and antisocial behaviour remain issues in my West Scotland region. Recently, I was contacted by two business improvement districts that represent a substantial number of businesses across the area. The Kirkintilloch and Milngavie BIDs informed me that they have experienced an increase in shoplifting, and that shoplifters are becoming more brazen and aggressive, yet the police response is ineffective. A major supermarket in Milngavie has had to close one of its main entrances due to shoplifters walking out, and along the main street, with baskets full of shopping. Another retailer said that it experiences people shoplifting every day. The BIDs also expressed concerns that such activity will become worse as we approach the Christmas period.
At the same time, the roll-out of upgraded CCTV across East Dunbartonshire has been talked about for more than two years, but has still not been delivered by East Dunbartonshire Council. Thieves seem to know where all the cameras are, and plenty of blind spots still exist, despite the Milngavie BID’s offer to the council to fund additional cameras to integrate with the main CCTV system that is currently in place.
Shopkeepers should not have to go through the stress of having to constantly monitor their merchandise. I recently raised the issue in a letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs. I asked her to outline what action her Government is taking to prevent retail crime and whether it has formulated a strategy with Police Scotland to clamp down on shoplifters.
The SNP’s soft-touch approach to justice and its failure to provide suitable resources are a root cause of shoplifting and antisocial behaviour in retail.
Will the member take an intervention?
Police numbers have fallen to their lowest in 17 years, and I was disappointed to hear that certain crimes will no longer be investigated due to the Government’s “proportionate response to crime” approach.
Similarly, high taxes mean that businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, find installing new security equipment challenging. That is why, as mentioned during Tuesday’s members’ business debate, I said that I was disappointed that the SNP Government did not pass on the 75 per cent business rates relief from the previous UK Conservative Government.
I hope that, in her closing speech, the minister will outline a detailed strategy to tackle retail crime that includes an increase in policing and support for businesses that will help to enhance their security.
Due to time, I could not take an intervention from Ben Macpherson—I am sorry.
13:11
I, too, thank Sharon Dowey for securing time to debate something that I hope that other members know is close to my heart. She is absolutely right to highlight the human impact of the issue. However, let me be clear that I had hoped that we would not have to have this debate. I had hoped that something had changed through the course of the Covid pandemic. During that period, we all stood here a number of times and said that we needed to understand that retail workers were front-line workers and are undervalued, and that we had an opportunity to re-evaluate their importance because, ultimately, we are dependent on retail and retail workers in order to secure the necessities and essentials for life. However, since then, we have regressed.
In the previous session of Parliament, I lodged a member’s bill that is now an act of Parliament—the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021—and that has had some impact. Now, we at least know some of the relevant numbers: according to the latest figures, under that legislation there have been more than 10,000 reports, a 61 per cent detection rate and 1,200 convictions, and more than 1,000 cases are proceeding through the courts. However, clearly, that is not enough, because we are seeing an escalation.
Let us also be clear about the human impact of such crime. Anyone who has had to challenge a shoplifter or ask someone to leave their shop knows what it is like to have that physical confrontation. They know what it is like to have their heart pound and their nerves jangle. Even if they successfully get the person out of their store without any harm to themselves, they are left stunned and reeling for the rest of that day and then they have to go back there the next day—they have to return to that place of stress and trauma. I can only imagine what it must be like for someone who is a victim of violence to return to the place where they were assaulted.
Let us be clear: this is a problem that is getting worse. Before continuing, I remind the chamber of my entry in the register of members’ interests, which states that I am a member of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers and am the owner of a business that has retail interests. According to USDAW’s most recent survey, 18 per cent of shop workers—one in five—who were surveyed had experienced violence in the past year. What makes that worse is that it is a dramatic increase, as the figure was 8 per cent in the year before and only 5 per cent in 2019. That is an extraordinary rise and one that we should all find unacceptable.
I absolutely agree with what Ben Macpherson said. These are serious issues. All of us recognise that there are no easy answers, but we need a debate on Government time to allow us to discuss the issues. I agree with Ben Macpherson’s point about bus passes. The approach does not need to be all or nothing. I have spoken with Lothian Buses and others, and I think that there are technical possibilities, such as time-limited restrictions and so on, so I ask the Government to look into that.
It is also absolutely right to highlight the point about organised crime. It is clear to me from having spoken to Retailers Against Crime and retailers themselves that there is a growing pattern of organised crime, using vulnerable people to steal to order, with the proceeds from that cycling around the black economy, financing drug dealers, human traffickers and other, far more serious criminals. It is not a trivial crime or a victimless crime, and it certainly has consequences in far more serious areas.
We should also consider the pattern of policing. First, we need the police to be far more engaged with retailers, in order to consider solutions and more effective reporting. Above all else, because of the creation of Police Scotland, the balance of policing has gone away from response officers. Having more police officers is one thing, but specialised units have taken police officers, and we need to question whether the balance is correct.
13:15
I thank Sharon Dowey for securing this important debate on retail crime. I bring to the attention of the Parliament the fact that I am the convener of the cross-party group on independent convenience stores. On Tuesday, we had presentations from organisations and retailers on this very subject. I take this opportunity to thank John Mason, Foysol Choudhury and Murdo Fraser, who attended and discussed the subject with more than 20 representatives of the sector.
There is no doubt that shoplifting is on the rise across the United Kingdom, with the British Retail Consortium highlighting that there were 5.6 million incidents of shop theft recorded in 2023, compared with 1.1 million in 2022. Over the past 10 years—since 2014—there has been a 41 per cent rise in shoplifting in Scotland, costing store owners anything between £5,000 and £12,000 each year.
The Scottish Grocers Federation’s Scottish crime report for 2023-24 suggests that cases of shoplifting have doubled in the past year. The report highlights that many retailers are reluctant to report cases of shoplifting to the police due to slow response times, which undermines the effectiveness of reporting the crime and solving it.
A constituent of mine who attended the cross-party group meeting on Tuesday night highlighted that, on top of the regular cases of shoplifting, they had, for the first time in more than 20 years, been robbed of a large quantity of high-value goods while the store was open. They had to wait more than a week for the police to attend. Another retailer highlighted how two incidents back in 2016 had had a traumatic impact on their health. That was because they had been broken into overnight twice in a 21-day period, when organised crime gangs stole high-value items. They then had to bear the cost of carrying out repairs and the expense of upgrading security, only to find that their insurance companies would not pay out. The result was that the cost was borne by a family business that provides a service to the community and employs 16 people. Shoplifting or theft is not a victimless crime.
Another aspect of retail crime is the threat of violence. The Association of Convenience Stores reported that, in the past year, there were 76,000 incidents of violence and 1.2 million cases of verbal abuse across the UK. One of the ways in which we have tried to address the issue in Scotland was thanks to the Scottish Grocers Federation, which, working across the political spectrum, put in place the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021, which came into force in August 2021. We now have a record of the number of cases of abuse, threats and violence towards shop workers in Scotland—but that is not enough.
While I welcome the fact that there are 20 per cent more police officers in Scotland than in England, and 22 per cent more than in Wales, we need to do more. On Tuesday, the cross-party group highlighted a number of actions that could be taken to help retailers to combat shoplifting. One is to establish a self-reporting scheme so that low-level crime is measured, highlighting hotspots and helping retailers to support each other and to be on the alert when incidents happen in their neighbourhood. A second is to investigate the possibility of introducing small grants to independent convenience stores to partly cover the cost of better security, which will help to deter crime. A third is to revise the guidance on the use of CCTV covering the front of premises in order that cameras are more effective in gathering evidence and can be used as a deterrent to would-be shoplifters.
Across the shopping areas in our towns, villages and neighbourhoods, local people are dependent on the independent convenience store sector to provide the everyday necessities of living in the area. We need to address shoplifting in our communities before it becomes an epidemic and threatens the viability of many of those stores.
13:20
I congratulate my colleague Sharon Dowey on securing this important debate.
This morning, Conservative members sat down with senior representatives of Scottish retailers and companies that are at the heart of our communities—companies on which we all rely and which drive our economy and employ many people.
The financial cost of retail crime is impossible to calculate, but of much greater concern is the impact on shop workers. Violence is rife and some staff have already been killed. Many of those tragic cases have not been reported in the media. Only last week, I raised the case of a Glasgow shopkeeper who was stabbed. The police quickly arrested the teenage assailant, who was then released back on to the streets. Within half an hour, he had murdered an innocent man.
I will not talk about statistics. As one of the attendees at this morning’s meeting said, the figures have become almost irrelevant, partly because of underreporting. Suffice it to say that retail crime is out of control in Scotland. It is not me saying that: it is the retailers and the police.
The Government has systematically weakened the justice system to the extent that shoplifting has been decriminalised by stealth. What do I mean by that? If retailers call the police and they do not attend, there is no consequence. If a thief is caught but given a recorded police warning instead of being charged, there is no consequence. If they are charged, the chance of a conviction has become close to non-existent so, again, there are no consequences. If consequences are deliberately and systematically removed, there is no deterrent. That leads to the inevitable consequence of criminals who believe that they can act with impunity.
A significant amount of retail crime is committed by organised criminal gangs. Last week, I heard about a group of teenagers who are based in the Glasgow area. They use free bus passes to travel around Scotland and commit large-scale thefts. That is targeted and organised. The gang members are brazen. They make no attempt to hide their faces and they sweep high-value items from the shelves—the primary target is alcoholic spirits. It is suspected that the group is under the direction of adult organised criminals.
Such gangs are increasingly violent, because they know that there are no consequences. I have seen numerous sickening CCTV videos of those people spitting on staff, punching them, threatening them and doing what they want with no consequence. It is inevitable that more people will end up dead.
The police tell the retailers that their hands are tied. I speak with police officers who often feel powerless and frustrated. It seems that the Scottish Government is content to subcontract retail security on to the shoulders of retailers. Retailers already invest huge sums of money in protecting their staff and stock. It says a lot about the Government’s priorities that Police Scotland officers still do not have body-worn cameras, although they are standard kit in almost every shop.
At this morning’s meeting, I told the retailers that my party is on their side and on the side of their staff. We believe that crime should have consequences. Retailers can be assured that I and my colleagues will continue to challenge the Government’s relentless weakening of our justice system.
13:24
I begin by reminding members of my voluntary entry in the register of members’ interests.
I thank Sharon Dowey for lodging the motion for today’s debate. She is one of the members of this Parliament who bring real-world experience to bear on issues and so deserves to be listened to.
There is no question but that violence, theft and the abuse of shop workers is on the rise: the Scottish Retail Consortium tells us; the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers tells us; and the front-line workers I speak to tell me.
Today’s motion echoes the calls that we have heard from the industry for the Scottish Government to
“provide the police and courts the necessary direction and resources to prosecute offenders”.
Well, the fact is that the police are not routinely arresting offenders at all. According to shop workers I have spoken to, Police Scotland will only charge people for shoplifting, for example, if they have a previous record or they are known to the police, which begs the question, “How do you get a previous record if you are never cautioned, never charged, never prosecuted and never sentenced?”
But conversely, the other side of this approach is that, for some people, there is a revolving door in and out of prison for minor offences, often including shoplifting and the non-payment of fines. I spoke just recently to one bright, engaged and engaging young person who told me in his own words that he was an addict and he had spent most of the last few years in and out of prison for minor offences related to his addiction, including shoplifting. In my view, he clearly needed a helping hand, not an iron fist, so I do think we need to have balance in this debate.
USDAW, in its 2023 annual “Freedom From Fear” survey, describes
“a shoplifting epidemic driven by the cost of living crisis and organised crime.”
USDAW reports that, among its retail membership, seven out of 10 respondents reported verbal abuse, 46 per cent received threats of violence and, as Daniel Johnson said, 18 per cent were physically assaulted. We know that the biggest single cause of retail crime occurs when somebody is being confronted for shoplifting, and shoplifting has risen by over 40 per cent in the last decade. The annual crime in Scotland report also records that almost a quarter of retail crimes occurred in one of Scotland’s top 15 per cent most deprived areas, and that 41 per cent of perpetrators resided in Scotland’s most deprived areas. So, there is clearly a link to poverty and inequality, to hopelessness and to powerlessness.
Finally, this Parliament passes legislation on alcohol minimum unit pricing, on vapes and tobacco, on the shelving and display of alcohol and on fireworks, but the enforcement of those laws that we pass invariably falls to those low-paid shop workers out on the front line, which is why they need protection, which is why we passed a law in this Parliament to do just that. But, like any other piece of protective legislation, it needs to be enforced, and that places a requirement on retailers to take their duty of care to their staff seriously; that demands the police treat these incidents not as occupational hazards but as crimes; that means we as a society need to get to the root causes which lie behind this rise in retail crime; and it underlines the important role of trade unions in enforcing the rights of working people, which also means we need to challenge those employers, amongst them some of the biggest supermarket chains, which continue to resist trade union membership and organisation.
So, this is about dignity at work, but it is also about democracy at work. This is about workers’ rights, but it is also about human rights.
13:29
I am pleased to be able to speak in the debate, and I commend and congratulate my colleague Sharon Dowey on bringing this important issue to the chamber. Retailers play an increasingly important role in communities across the country and are the lifeblood of many sectors of our economy. We can all agree that it is unacceptable for those working in retail settings to find themselves subject to any kind of abuse.
Unfortunately, as we have heard from many speakers in the debate, the reality is that abuse is continually happening the length and breadth of the country and the motion rightly highlights those alarming trends.
Earlier this year, a report from the Scottish Grocers’ Federation found that 100 per cent of retailers reported an increase in shoplifting in the past year, and 99 per cent said that it happened daily in their stores. The report also found that the cost of the crime was up to £12,000 per store, totalling £62.9 million across Scotland during a year. Perhaps the most shocking statistic was that 92 per cent of stores reported that violence against staff occurred at least once a week.
Clearly, it is a serious problem and serious action and solutions are required. In recent years, the implementation of the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021 has been a welcome step; but it is only a step. Under the act, more than 10,000 incidents have already been reported to the police since August 2021, which shows the scale of the problem that we are facing. However, more needs to be done to ensure that the perpetrators are prosecuted. As we have already heard, there need to be consequences. Despite Police Scotland identifying the person responsible in 60 per cent of cases, only 11 per cent of those result in a conviction. On top of that, the SGF has highlighted that the lack of response from the police and the lack of confidence that retailers have in them is affecting the situation. It found that 90 per cent of retailers believe that the response to shoplifting is unsatisfactory or insufficiently delayed. There should not be delays; there should be consequences for these actions.
The low conviction rate shows that we are not addressing the problem in the right way, and 75 per cent of retailers say that they are unlikely to report incidents to the police because of it. That is having a massive effect on the sector and the individuals who work in it. The true extent of those crimes is not clear as the raw data is not being uncovered. Although the legislation is there to protect workers, which is a step forward, much more needs to be done.
For example, the motion speaks about the Scottish Retail Consortium’s call for greater focus on retail crime from Police Scotland, and for the Scottish Government to take the issue much more seriously. We cannot tolerate a situation in which the police are unable to investigate supposedly minor incidents of shoplifting simply because of a lack of resources from the Government. Instead, we should be aiming for a system that does not hesitate to support individuals who report or have experienced shoplifting.
For the individuals who are working in retail up and down the country, and those who suffer the reality of it each and every day and week, a no-tolerance approach to retail crime and abuse is the least that they deserve. We should support them in that.
13:32
I thank Sharon Dowey for raising this important issue. I am aware that, earlier this week, the cross-party group on independent convenience stores met to discuss many of these issues, too.
As the member notes, shoplifting and violence and abuse towards retail workers are part of a worrying trend across the UK—it is not unique to Scotland—that is, rightly, causing concern among our retailers. The latest police recorded crime statistics, for the year ending this June, suggest that shoplifting is up by more than a third on the previous year. That is not acceptable, and neither is the violence and threatening behaviour that often accompanies such incidents. I thank all members for their contributions to the debate. I know that the issue is very emotive, and I think that all of us in the chamber, regardless of our political colour, want to tackle it.
Does the minister accept that this shocking rise that she accepts is happening is in any way due to the fact that there are no consequences for those who are committing the crimes?
Could the minister adjust her microphone slightly?
I will come on to some of the issues that have been raised later in my speech.
I heard concerns about these issues first hand when I attended meetings of the retail industry leadership group on 14 March and the Scottish Retail Consortium on 19 March. At those meetings, I heard about the work that retailers are doing to cope with these issues, including introducing extra security measures and support for staff, as well as their views on what is driving the upward trend.
I appreciate Ms Dowey’s comments on her previous career and her experience of violence in the retail sector in a past life. I have also personally experienced it.
Although the increase cannot be entirely attributed to the cost of living, Police Scotland has been clear with me that that is undoubtedly a major driver. These incidents are deeply concerning, which is why I urge all retailers to keep reporting crimes. I appreciate that some will not, but I will come later in my speech to a Police Scotland initiative that could encourage them to do so.
Each crime report aids our collective understanding of who is doing this and why, and means that police officers may also have intelligence that they can use to catch the perpetrators. Policing in Scotland continues to be a priority for the Scottish Government. Our budget for 2024-25 includes record total police funding of £1.55 billion, which is an increase of £92.7 million on the previous year, despite exceptionally difficult financial circumstances due to the UK Government’s austerity.
I wonder whether the minister might respond to the point that I made on that in my speech. It is not about the numbers or the funding but about the model of policing that we have adopted. We prioritise central specialist units over response units, which means that we have fewer response officers than we did prior to police reorganisation. That contributes to the issue.
Minister, I can give you the time back for the intervention.
I believe—and we discussed this in a debate last week—that there is an issue in local authorities with collaborative working with the police. I had a meeting last week with my local police and they told me that they could identify all the shoplifters in Ayr town centre and knew how to get in touch with them. There has to be a collaborative approach between local authorities, because it is not just up to the police. There has to be collaborative working between the council, antisocial behaviour services and the police.
I return to Police Scotland funding. That funding will allow the chief constable to deliver on her commitment to strengthen the force through her plans for a revised model of policing, including enabling the service to restart recruitment and increase officer numbers. I note that a few members have called for more police. I am glad to report that Police Scotland has welcomed more than 690 new officers since March and more than 1,280 new recruits since the beginning of 2023. Further intakes are planned throughout this year, with Police Scotland set to take on more recruits this year than at any time since 2013. Police Scotland described the number of candidates and applicants looking to join up as really positive. I hope that members welcome that.
I am encouraged by the approach that Police Scotland is taking to tackling shoplifting and addressing these recent trends. Central to that work is the innovative Scottish partnership against acquisitive crime strategy, also known as SPAACE, which is led by Police Scotland. It works with retailers and other organisations, including Retailers Against Crime and Neighbourhood Watch Scotland. Its focus is on prevention, deterrence and, where appropriate, enforcement.
I note that the motion raises a point about the protection of retail workers in the South Scotland region. Officers have engaged directly with retailers of various sizes across the whole country on how to minimise opportunities for this type of crime, protect individuals and businesses and deliver clear advice and guidance for prevention. I ask that retailers take advantage of Police Scotland’s advice in this area. Although the problem must also be tackled through enforcement, ensuring that premises are not an easy target for shoplifters is important.
The Scottish Government underlines its support for the SPAACE approach in our programme for government, which was published earlier this month, and I would like to draw members’ attention to a specific pilot project that Police Scotland has initiated in Fife. Statistics on the number of retailers who are not willing to report crime were given, and work on that is being undertaken. Police Scotland, together with partners and information technology providers—
I mentioned the pilot project taking place in Fife in a previous question. It is not in my region, and I was not able to find out much information about it, but I got feedback from one group that is involved that crimes are being reported—there is a new way to report them—but no action is being taken by the police. The on-going issue seems to be that the retailers are not reporting any incidents to the police because the police do not have the capacity to respond.
I will have to look into that. I will give the member further information, but I have been told that reports have been submitted to the procurator fiscal as a result of the pilot.
To go back to the pilot, Police Scotland, together with partners and information technology providers, have helped to develop a platform allowing staff in stores to send details of crime directly to Police Scotland, so that offences can be investigated. That happens in other parts of the United Kingdom and it is also happening in New Zealand. There has been engagement with businesses across the local authority area encouraging participation in the pilot.
Following a soft launch earlier this year, the go live in September 2024 saw more retailers join the platform, which has already resulted in the positive identification of offenders and a number of reports submitted to the procurator fiscal. The ability for stores to compile their own crime reports and submit those directly to the police not only empowers businesses to take action against criminals but frees up police time to investigate incidents. Lead officers hope to see further arrests being made as part of the pilot, and I would join them in encouraging as many retailers as possible in Fife to get involved. I really hope that the scheme will be rolled out throughout Scotland.
The debate has raised an important point about the use of criminal law in attacks against retail workers. Retail workers are already protected by a wide range of criminal laws, including the protection of workers legislation, which came into force in August 2021 and which was based on a member’s bill by Daniel Johnson. Today’s motion rightly highlights the impact that legislation has had on improving visibility and legal protection for retail workers. Although it is always shocking to hear that retail workers are being threatened and abused, they should feel confident in reporting such offences, as they are being taken seriously by the police.
I am very conscious of time, but one issue that I want to raise is bus passes. [Interruption.] I am sorry, but I am not going to take any more interventions, as we are running too short of time.
Work is on-going with stakeholders, including the bus industry, to develop specific actions to tackle antisocial behaviour on the bus network. Work to develop a process for temporary suspension or withdrawal of concessionary travel entitlement through the national concessionary travel scheme is being progressed for consideration in the medium term, including an assessment of the most appropriate route to enable that within the statutory scheme. Work is on-going on that.
I welcome the opportunity to have this debate about these important issues and I again thank Sharon Dowey for lodging the motion.
That concludes the debate, and I suspend this meeting of Parliament until 2 o’clock.
13:42 Meeting suspended.Previous
First Minister’s Question Time