§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the cost of the telephone survey undertaken by his Department into crime levels in 14 countries; and if he will make a statement on the benefit which has been obtained from this survey.
§ Mr. John PattenThe cost to the Home Office of taking part in the international telephone survey in which 14 countries took part was about £33,000, of which one-third was for staff resources from the research and planning unit. Each country paid their own contribution to the survey.
The benefit of the survey is that it gives a comparable measure of the level of a number of offences across different countries—a measure which is independent of offences recorded by the police. It also offers information on other topics such as fear of crime, crime prevention habits, opinions about the police, and attitudes to sentencing.