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<p>The Government supported the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 (“the
2013 Act”) which provided better regulation of the metal recycling sector, including
making it an offence for a scrap metal dealer to operate without a licence.</p><p>Under
the 2013 Act, a scrap metal dealer who operates without a licence is guilty of an
offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale. The Sentencing
Council are responsible for setting the maximum statutory fine limits and, for offences
committed after 13 March 2015, the maximum fine for Level 5 is unlimited.</p><p><br>The
Home Office collects information from police forces on the number of offences that
involved the theft of metal for its scrap metal value. These data are published annually
by the Office for National Statistics and can be found in the ‘Property Crime tables’
here: <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/focusonpropertycrimeappendixtables"
target="_blank">https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/focusonpropertycrimeappendixtables</a>.
The Government does not hold data on the number of unlicensed scrap metal sites that
have been closed by local authorities.</p>
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