Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs
Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

Dear Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs

We are writing to you about retail crime. Members of the trade union Usdaw have drawn our attention to recent statements from the Co-op Group about retail workers facing crime on a regular basis. The Co-op says that there are 1000 incidents of crime in their stores every day across the United Kingdom.

Many people in our local communities have also expressed their concerns at the treatment of retail workers and are keen to see Police Scotland and the Crown Office use all the powers that they have, especially those given by the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-related Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act to protect retail workers.

The Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-related Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act is relatively new. We would be interested to know how local prosecutors are kept up to date with the most recent legislation to ensure that they are using the full force of the law. In this case there have been significant changes in the law around retail crime. We are sure that you will agree with us that nobody should face violence, threats or abuse at their place of work. We would be grateful if you were able to give us an overview of statistics for retail crime across Scotland and also give us a sense of how often the increased powers under this recent legislation are used.