Current status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 August 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking with Police Scotland to tackle rural crime, in light of new figures from insurance company, NFU Mutual, which show that rural crime in Scotland was up 34.9% in 2023 compared with the previous year.
Police Scotland have confirmed that the increase in claims received by NFU Mutual from Scotland for the 2022/23 period can largely be attributed to a particular 'spike' during that period including the theft of farm machinery, GPS units and an increase in quad bike thefts. A significant proportion of the machinery that was taken with investigations ongoing.
The Scottish Government continues to work with partners across the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime (SPARC) and through the continued expansion of the local partnerships against Crime (LPARCS) across Scotland.
These partnerships share intelligence on organised crime groups operating across borders, providing specific ‘target hardening’ information to the rural and farming community on how to best secure and prevent theft of equipment. They also demonstrate crime prevention measures in relation to the marking, tracking and securing of farm machinery and tools, including in the highest impacted areas.