HC Deb 14 March 1955 vol 538 c102W
Mr. J. J. Astor

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what decrease took place in the volume of crime in 1954 as compared with 1953.

Major Lloyd-George

Provisional figures are available at present only for the first nine months of 1954. These figures show that the number of indictable offences known to the police in England and Wales during this period was 318,754 compared with 352,384 for the corresponding period of 1953, a decrease of 33,630 or 9.5 per cent. These offences may be divided into groups as shown in the following table:

January, 1955, was 3,440. The value of the work done on school building projects in the new town during this period was about £790,000.