Motor Vehicles: Crime

Mrs. Villiers
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many of her full-time equivalent officials have worked on proposals to combat vehicle crime over the last six months.

Jim Fitzpatrick
The lead responsibility for combating vehicle crime rests with the Home Office. Many of the activities of DFT and its agencies also help to tackle vehicle crime. Among the key achievements in 2006-07 were: the introduction of theft-resistant number plates to help combat car cloning and car ID theft; and an increase in wheel clamping activities to tackle vehicle excise duty evasion. It is not possible to quantify this in terms of staff numbers.