§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish a table showing, by standard region, separately for men and women and as an overall total, the number of incidents of(a) violent crime and (b) sexual assault at British Rail stations for 1992 and 1993.
§ Mr. FreemanThe information is not available in the form requested. However, the following tables show, by BR business sectors, the recorded incidents of violent crime and sexual assault at British Rail stations for 1992514W and 1993. A breakdown of figures, by gender, for violent crime could be provided only at disproportionate cost. For the purposes of the table, violent crime includes murder, manslaughter, grievous bodily harm, malicious wounding, firearms and explosives offences and robberies.
Violent crime 1992 1993 InterCity 276 341 Regional 611 496 Network SouthEast 1,311 1,447 Other Sectors 41 161 Total 2,239 2,466
All sexual assaults (against males in brackets) 1992 1993 Intercity 57 (7) 37 (2) Regional 63 (3) 63 (7) Network SouthEast 151 (13) 161 (11) Other Sectors 3 — 11 (1) Total 274 (23) 272 (21) The increase in violent crime in Network SouthEast is mainly attributable to robberies in south London, which is not unique to the railways. The British Transport police, working closely with the Metropolitan police, have targeted the problem, a policy which is starting to have an impact.