Mr. Edward Taylorasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement outlining the main changes in recording practice in his Department since 1963 in relation to the calculation of the numbers of offences made known to the police.
§ Mr. CarlisleThe principal changes are as follows:
(1) From 1969, following the coming into force of the Theft Act 1968, offences of taking a motor vehicle without consent and certain offences of 37W stealing—both having become indictable—were included in the statistics of indictable offences.
(2) Also from 1969, offences attributed to children under the age of criminal responsibility have been brought into the statistical record.
(3) From 1964, following the coming into force of the Malicious Damage Act 1964, offences of malicious damage exceeding £20 but not £100 in value were made non-indictable. For the purpose of comparability, such offences were included in the statistics until 1969 when the practice was discontinued. As a result of the Criminal Damage Act 1971, offences of criminal damage of over £20 in value became indictable and are included in the statistics for 1972.
(4) From 1972, offences of theft where the value is under £5 are excluded.