HC Deb 18 June 1981 vol 6 cc402-3W
Mr. Teddy Taylor

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is now in a position to publish the provisional totals of murders and crimes of violence made known to the police in 1980; and if he will also publish a table showing the comparable totals for each of the previous 20 years.

Mr. Mayhew

[pursuant to his reply, 8 June 1981, c. 14]: Information on serious offences recorded by the police in England and Wales in 1980 was published in Home Office "Statistical Bulletin" 5/81 on 24 March 1981; in a case of homicide it is not possible in the absence of a court decision to distinguish between offences of murder, mar, slaughter and infanticide. Copies of the bulletin are available in the Library of the House. The corresponding numbers of offences recorded by the police in the previous 20 years were published annually in "Criminal Statistics England and Wales"—table 2.2 of the volume for 1979, Cmnd. 8098.