Written questions by Coombes.

How many drivers were arrested of a driving offence while on bail for causing death by careless or dangerous driving for each of the last five years.

The data requested is not held centrally.The Home Office collects data on arrests by offence group in England and Wales as part of the Police Powers and Procedures statistical series. The latest data is available here: Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2025 - GOV.UKHowever, the data is collected by broader offence group, such as ‘violence against the person’ or ‘miscellaneous crimes against society’. Data on arrests for non-notifiable offences is not collected. Additionally, we do not collect information centrally on whether a person was on bail at the time of their arrest.

What steps she is taking to help ensure that the Automatic Number Plate Recognition network is able to identify (a) false and (b) cloned number plates.

ANPR is a valuable tool to help the police tackle crime and keep the road safe. We keep the effectiveness of police and law enforcement use of ANPR under regular review, to ensure it remains a robust tool for identifying vehicles of interest to the police and drivers who break the law.Non-compliant and mis-represented plates are a significant concern to policing and law enforcement agencies. The DVLA and the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) are working closely with Trading Standards, local authorities and other government departments to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime.The law requires anyone who supplies number plates for road use in the UK to be registered with the DVLA and for suppliers to carry out checks to ensure that number plates are only sold to those who are entitled to the registration number. Number plate suppliers must also keep records of the number plates they have supplied. Those found to have committed number plate offences can be prosecuted by the police.I met the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) lead on ANPR in April to discuss the challenges associated with cloned licence plates and the potential role for ANPR in helping to tackle them.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of non-compliant number plates on levels revenue to traffic enforcement forces.

The Home Office has not made an assessment of the potential impact of non-compliant number plates on the levels of revenue to traffic enforcement forces.The Government is working closely with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), Trading Standards, local authorities and other government departments to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime.

How much funding her Department has provided for improving Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems in the last three years.

A total of £85.45 million has been provided for maintaining and improving national Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems in the last three years.ANPR technology is used for law enforcement purposes, to help detect, deter and disrupt criminality at a local, force, regional and national level.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of recent trends in levels of police (a) time and (b) resources used to investigate Automatic Number Plate Recognition camera mis-reads.

A total of £85.45 million has been provided for maintaining and improving national Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems in the last three years.ANPR technology is used for law enforcement purposes, to help detect, deter and disrupt criminality at a local, force, regional and national level.

What estimate she has made of the number of vehicle number plate cloning offences in the last five years.

The Home Office does not hold information on the number of vehicle number plate cloning offences recorded by the police in England and Wales as this is included within the offence sub-code of ‘Fraud and forgery associated with registration and licensing documents’ offences.The table shows the total number of such offences recorded, from 2019/20 to the year ending September 2024.Table: the number of ‘Fraud, forgery etc. associated with registration and licensing documents’ offences recorded by the police in England and Wales1, 2019/20 to the year ending September 2024.YearOffences2019/2024472020/213762021/224192022/233622023/24393 Year ending September 2023373Year ending September 20244711. Humberside police are excluded from all years, as they have been unable to provide data to the Home Office Data Hub2. 2019/20 excludes Greater Manchester police, who were unable to provide data to the Home Office Data Hub for this period.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Automatic Number Plate Recognition camera system.

ANPR is a valuable tool to help the police tackle crime and keep the road safe.We keep the effectiveness of police and law enforcement use of ANPR under regular review, to ensure it remains a robust tool for identifying vehicles of interest to the police and drivers who break the law.

How many fixed penalty notices were issued for vehicle registration offences in each of the last three years.

The Home Office collects and publishes data on fixed penalty notices and other outcomes for motoring offences as part of its annual ‘Police Powers and Procedures: Roads policing’ statistical release. The latest data is available here Police powers and procedures: Roads policing, to December 2023 - GOV.UK and covers the calendar year ending December 2023.Data on the number of fixed penalty notices issued for vehicle registration offences for the last three years is covered under offence classification 810, “vehicle registration and excise licence offences”, and is provided in table FPN_03 of the motoring offences data tables, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67506ce8d12a2dad3bc97ab4/FPN-other-motoring-offences-statistics-police-powers-procedures-year-ending-dec-23.ods

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the use of modified number plates designed to evade detection by automatic number plate recognition cameras on levels of crime.

The cloning and defacing of number plates is illegal. We are working with the police, the DVLA and other partners to crack down on these crimes.We have begun work on a new Road Safety Strategy, the first in over a decade, which aims to reduce road deaths and prevent related crime.

What number and proportion of vehicle number plates were unreadable by automatic number plate recognition cameras in each of the last three years.

Data on the readability of ANPR reads is not collected or published.

What steps she is taking to tackle illegal street racing in West Bromwich constituency.

Any form of anti-social, dangerous or inconsiderate behaviour involving any vehicle is a serious issue. Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for the Government, and a key part of the Safer Streets Mission.Excess speed is a major cause of death and serious injury on our roads so anyone who breaks the speed limit should expect to face proper sanction.We recently announced plans to strengthen the law so that these vehicles can be seized by police when they are used to commit anti-social behaviour, including illegal street racing, without having to issue a warning which delays enforcement action. This will allow them to swiftly deal with vehicles being used anti-socially.