Retail Trade: Crime
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of illegal activities in high street businesses on legitimate businesses.
Answered by Blair McDougall
The criminal exploitation of the high street has a significant impact on communities and erodes public trust in legitimate businesses. It undermines competition, discourages investment, and contributes to the decline of once-thriving high streets.
The Home Office has announced the launch of a High Streets Organised Crime Unit, which will strengthen our response to money laundering and other forms of organised criminality taking place on our high streets.
DBT is part of the unit’s work to bring together key government departments, policing partners and local authorities to deliver long term policy solutions to high street organised criminality and enhance intelligence sharing.
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