Theft

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences of (a) shoplifting, (b) robbery of business property and (c) theft by an employee were recorded by police in the quarter (i) July to September 2003, (ii) July to September 2004 and (iii) July to September 2005. (262527)

[holding answer 10 March 2009]: The information requested is given in the table.

*Selected offences recorded by the police in England and Wales*
	July to September
Offence	2003	2004	2005
Shoplifting	74,831	68,530	72,953
Robbery of business property	2,268	1,691	1,859
Theft by an employee	4,307	4,412	4,188

Volume 489: debated on Wednesday 11 March 2009