I attended a meeting with Paddy Lillis General Secretary organised by the Usdaw union and at the meeting were retail staff who work on the front line in major retailers. We heard their stories and then discussed the new rights set out in the Employment Rights Bill. Sometimes children are stealing from shops.  

The Prime Minister reconfirmed the Government’s urgent actions to tackle growing levels of retail crime after last week’s statistics showed a 23% increase in shoplifting, which has almost doubled since the pandemic.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “For far too long, crimes like shoplifting have been written off as low level. That’s wrong, it’s devastating and the <Conservatives> left us with rising crime. They effectively told police to ignore shoplifting under £200 worth of goods. We’ve got rid of that shoplifters’ charter and we’re working hard to make sure we get a grip where they lost control.”

Paddy Lillis – Usdaw general secretary says: “Retail crime, theft from shops and abuse of staff are very real concerns for our members, and we welcome that they have been highlighted at the highest level with the Prime Minister. Keir Starmer’s response shows that the Government are serious in seeking to tackle a significant increase in theft from shops, which has almost doubled since the pandemic and rose by 23% last year. This contrasts with 14 years of the previous Conservative Government refusing to support the calls from Usdaw and many major retailers for significant action.

“We are pleased that the new Labour Government will soon introduce a Crime and Policing Bill. This new legislation will deliver a much-needed protection of retail workers’ law and introduce Respect Orders for repeat offenders. Last week, the Home Secretary announced a doubling of funding to police forces to help them recruit 13,000 more uniformed police officers, patrolling our communities and high streets. It is our hope that these new measures together will help give retail workers the respect they deserve.”

Interim results of the Usdaw’s 2024 survey, based on 4,073 responses, show that: 69% were verbally abused, 45% were threatened. 17% of retail workers had been assaulted. Of those who were abused, threatened or assaulted, 70% said that theft was the trigger, and their assessment of the underlying issues was 64% related to a drug and/or alcohol addiction. The final results of the survey will be published in March 2025.

Usdaw’s Freedom From Fear Campaign seeks to prevent violence, threats and abuse against workers by engaging the public, shop workers and the Government. www.usdaw.org.uk/Campaigns/Freedom-From-Fear

 

 

On 3 February 2025 the House of Commons met to debate the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill at second reading.

The Bill will safeguard public money by making provisions to better identify, prevent and deter public sector fraud and error and enable the better recovery of money owed to the taxpayer where public money has been stolen or overpaid.

The question before the commons was that the Bill is read a second time with the following result:

Ayes 343, Noes 87

On 3 February 2025 I chaired the Westminster Hall Debate on e-petition 638449 relating to career breaks for parents of seriously ill children. The debate was moved by Robbie Moore MP on behalf of the Petitions Committee, and responded to by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Justin Madders MP.

E-petition 638449 was started after a Christina Harris lost her job after her daughter, Skye, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. She used the e-petition process and gained over 100,000 signatures, triggering the debate. 

To find other petitions, or start your own, you can use this link to access to Petitions site: https://petition.parliament.uk/ 

 

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and Happy Lunar New Year

I chaired two sessions of the Finance Bill Committee on Thursday 30 January 2025. There were 2 sessions and I chaired both the sessions.

The House of Commons appoints Public Bill committees to consider and scrutinise proposed legislation in detail, line by line.

The Finance Bill puts into force the resolutions put forward in the Chancellor's Autumn Budget.

The proceedings of this committee were concluded at the second session. I have reported its conclusions and any amendments made to the House, where it will be debated further before being deliberated in the House of Lords.