§ Mr. AllanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list, by police area, the number of reported racial incidents in 1989 and each year since 1994 for which figures are available. [24664]
§ Mr. MichaelRacial incidents figures are submitted by each police force to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary at the end of each financial year. The incidents are 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".The information requested is given in the table: 39W
The number of racial incidents reported to each force in 1989 and each year since 1994 Forces 19891 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 Warwickshire 21 87 114 99 66 West Mercia 6 100 35 46 64 West Midlands 169 487 375 489 725 West Yorkshire 306 244 254 355 623 Wiltshire 19 51 64 37 35 England and Wales total 5,044 11,006 11,878 12,222 13,151 Provincial total 2,347 5,882 6,398 7,211 7,530 1 Until 1993–94 figures were submitted to HMIC every calendar year. 2 The figure for Hampshire in 1989 is not known. It is difficult to be precise about the extent to which rising figures may be partly due to the increasing willingness among ethnic minority communities to report these incidents and an increasing confidence that the police take these matters seriously. Police forces are also taking steps to increase the reporting rate of racial incidents taking place and to discover when and where they are taking place and on whom. Such developments are also likely to be influencing both public confidence and the number of offenders reported.