§ Mr. Ronald Brownasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what reply he has given to the National Asso- 156W ciation of Licensed House Managers concerning the number of assaults that have occurred on licensed premises; and if he is satisfied that the present method of collecting crime statistics allows for this particular crime to be identified.
§ Mr. CarlisleThe association has been told, in correspondence with the Home Office, that statistics of assaults occurring in a particular type of place are not at present separately identifiable.
The Report of the Departmental Committee on Criminal Statistics (Cmnd. 3448) made a number of recommendations for improving the criminal statistics which would include distinguishing offences such as serious assaults according to the circumstances in which they occurred, but their implementation would require additional expenditure and manpower which my right hon. Friend does not believe would be justified at present.