HC Deb 12 March 1970 vol 797 cc362-3W
60. Mr. Ronald Atkins

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his estimate of the extent to which the increase in the numbers of reported criminal acts is related to their being more efficiently recorded.

Mr. Callaghan

Increased police efficiency leads to an increase in the proportion of crime that is reported to the police, and improved methods of recording by the police have also contributed to the increase in the figures of indictable offences; but the effect in either case is not capable of being measured.