HC Deb 20 March 1997 vol 292 cc831-2W
17. Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the percentage rise in reported crime since 1979. [19798]

Mr. Maclean

No central record exists of the number of crimes reported to the police, although for the period in question, the average annual increase in recorded crime was 4 per cent.