HC Deb 07 November 2002 vol 392 cc822-5W
Albert Owen

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of reported crime the North Wales police detected in(a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001. [79522]

Mr. Denham

[holding answer 5 November 2002]Details for crime are published for financial years, most recently in "Crime in England and Wales 2001–02", of which table 8.01 contains the data on the amount of recorded crime which is detected. A copy is available in the Library.

The figures available for North Wales are for financial years and are as follows:

  1. (a) 1999–2000: 36 per cent.
  2. (b) 2000–01: 31 per cent.
  3. (c) 2001–02: 28 per cent.

Albert Owen

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish a league table of police forces in England and Wales by detection rates. [79523]

Mr. Denham

[holding answer 5 November 2002]Details for the financial years 1997–98 to 2001–02, were published in table 8.01 of "Criminal Statistics England and Wales 2000", and are given in the table. A copy of the publication is available in the Library.

As different police forces have different crime mixes, comparing overall detection rates between forces is of limited value. This is because different types of crime tend to have different detection rates, and so a police force with which has a higher proportion of types of crime with high detection rates will tend to have a higher overall detection rate. Also, police forces may give priority to tackling particular types of crime, with the detection rate of those crimes having some effect on the force's overall detection rate.

The detection rates for 2001–02 may have been affected in comparison to those of the previous year as a result of some police forces implementing the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard in advance of its national implementation on 1 April 2002.

There was a change in counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998, which increased the total number of crimes counted in each police force area, and

Recorded crime: annual detection rates by police force area and region 1997–98 to 2001–02
Percentages
Police force 1997–981 1998–992 1999–20003 2000–01 2001–02
Cleveland 23 23 22 21 20
Durham 30 33 32 34 33
Northumbria 26 30 31 31 31
North East Region 26 29 29 29 29
Cheshire 34 37 31 30 26
Cumbria 41 44 39 34 32
Greater Manchester 20 25 23 22 21
Lancashire 29 34 29 27 26
Merseyside 31 31 26 28 24
North West Region 26 29 26 25 23
Humberside 21 22 19 21 20
North Yorkshire 26 33 31 30 26
South Yorkshire 32 32 25 25 23
West Yorkshire 27 27 25 23 19
Yorkshire and the Humber Region 27 28 24 24 21
Derbyshire 26 31 28 26 25
Leicestershire 34 34 30 28 28
Lincolnshire 46 40 28 25 27
Northamptonshire 35 33 33 33 31
Nottinghamshire 26 25 21 20 18
East Midlands Region 31 31 27 25 24
Staffordshire 34 32 22 23 24
Warwickshire 29 26 22 22 25
West Mercia 27 34 29 27 29
West Midlands 25 30 27 28 29
West Midlands Region 28 31 26 27 28
Bedfordshire 35 33 25 27 25
Cambridgeshire 28 29 25 24 22
Essex4 28 29 30 26 26
Hertfordshire4 33 34 27 24 24
Norfolk 36 37 30 26 25
Suffolk 39 41 36 35 33
East of England Region 32 33 29 26 26
London, City of 28 33 32 27 34
Metropolitan police4 25 22 16 15 14
London Region 25 22 16 15 14
Hampshire 30 35 32 29 29
Kent 31 34 33 28 28
Surrey4 35 40 32 28 25
Sussex 26 25 25 23 25
Thames Valley 25 25 20 22 24
South East Region 28 30 27 25 26
Avon and Somerset 26 24 22 22 14
Devon and Cornwall 34 36 35 34 32
Dorset 30 31 26 25 27
Gloucestershire 26 31 30 31 30
Wiltshire 32 38 33 30 30
South West Region 29 31 28 27 23
Dyfed Powys 62 69 65 63 64
Gwent 51 55 53 57 55
North Wales 36 43 36 31 28
South Wales 36 39 31 32 33

therefore may have affected the detection rate. Detection rates after this date are therefore not directly comparable with previous years.

There was a change in the counting rules for detections on 1 April 1999, the new instructions providing more precise and rigorous criteria for securing a detection, with the underlying emphasis on the successful result of a police investigation. For example, detections obtained by the interview of a convicted prisoner were no longer included. Numbers of detections before and after this date are therefore not directly comparable.

Recorded crime: annual detection rates by police force area and region 1997–98 to 2001–02
Percentages
Police force 1997–981 1998–992 1999–20003 2000–01 2001–02
Wales 41 46 40 41 39
England and Wales 28 29 25 24 23
England and Wales5 29 31 28 27 26
1 Excluding offences of "other criminal damage" of value £20 and under prior to March 1998.
2 Percentage detected using the expanded coverage and revised counting rules which came into effect on 1 April 1998.
3 Revised detections guidance was implemented on 1 April 1999.
4 Forces affected by boundary changes in April 2000.
5 Excluding London Region.

Note:

Numbers of recorded crimes and detections will be affected by changes in reporting and recording. For further information see chapter 3 in "Crime in England and Wales 2001–02".