§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many racial attacks were reported in each police area in January 1998. [29493]
§ Mr. MichaelInformation is not available in precisely the form requested. Individual forces submit their racial incidents figures to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary at the end of each financial year. These are incidents recorded under the Association of Chief Police Officers' definition of a racial incident
any incident in which it appears to the reporting or investigating officer that the complaint involves an element of racial motivation, or any incident which includes an allegation of racial motivation made by any person".This definition is wider than simply attacks. The last available figure for the number of racial incidents reported to the police in England and Wales is 13,151 in 1996–97.
A breakdown of the number of incidents reported to the police by each police area in 1996–97 is given in the following table:
46W
Forces 1996–97 Avon and Somerset 310 Bedfordshire 77 Cambridgeshire 141 Cheshire 92 City of London 10 Cleveland 68 Cumbria 37 Derbyshire 208 Devon and Cornwall 82 Dorset 67 Durham 24 Dyfed-Powys 18 Essex 116 Gloucestershire 34 Greater Manchester 595 Gwent 60 Hampshire 178 Hertfordshire 295 Humberside 55 Kent 256 Lancashire 337 Leicestershire 299 Lincolnshire 7 Merseyside 162 Metropolitan Police 5,621 Norfolk 56 North Wales 4
Forces 1996–97 North Yorkshire 43 Northamptonshire 195 Northumbria 488 Nottinghamshire 330 South Wales 357 South Yorkshire 169 Staffordshire 225 Suffolk 74 Surrey 55 Sussex 260 Thames Valley 233 Warwickshire 66 West Mercia 64 West Midlands 725 West Yorkshire 623 Wiltshire 35 England and Wales Total 13,151 Provincial Total 7,530 Under data collection requirements agreed by member states within Europe, figures giving the number of serious racial incidents have been submitted to the European Union for 1994–95 and 1995–96. The 1994–95 figures showed that, of the 11,878 racial incidents recorded by the police, 508 were in respect of serious crime. Of these, four were murders; three were attempted murders; 161 were attacks involving explosives/arson; and 340 were serious assaults. In 1995–96, of the 12,222 racial incidents recorded by the police, 440 were in respect of serious crime. Of these, two were murders; 163 were attacks involving explosives/arson; and 275 were serious assaults.