§ Mr. John EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of notifiable crimes committed in 1991; and what were the comparable figures for 1978.
§ Mr. John PattenNotifiable offence statistics for 1978 are published in table 2.2 of "Criminal statistics, England and Wales, 1989". Figures for 1990 are published in Home Office statistical bulletin 13/91; copies of both publications are available in the Library. Figures for 1991 are not yet available.
§ Mr. HainTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give the figures for the percentage change in reported crime between 1979 and 1991 in(a) Neath, (b) south Wales and (c) the United Kingdom.
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§ Mr. John PattenThe available information shows that between 1979 and 1990 recorded crime increased by 94 per cent. in south Wales and 79 per cent. in England and Wales as a whole. Statistics are not collected centrally for Neath.
The British crime survey provides a measure of reported crime as experienced by adults in England and Wales. The most recent available results show that there was a 30 per cent. increase in offences measured by the survey between 1981 and 1987, as against a 41 per cent. increase in comparable recorded offences. Estimates are not available for the change in Neath or south Wales.
Figures for Scotland are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State of Scotland, and figures for Northern Ireland are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
§ Mr. MullinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable of each police force in England as to what proportion of the clear-up rate for crime in his area in 1990–91 is accounted for by voluntary admissions by convicted criminals; how many detectives are employed to obtain these admissions; and when the practice ceased.
§ Mr. Peter LloydInformation for police forces in England on the number of offences cleared up by an interview of convicted offenders in custody is contained in the table below. Further information is not readily available.
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Offences cleared up by interview of a convicted prisoner in custody as a percentage of all offences cleared up England 1989 Force Percentage cleared up by interview of convicted prisoner Avon and Somerset 9 Bedfordshire — Cambridgeshire 6 Cheshire 25 Cleveland 9 Cumbria 10 Derbyshire 3 Devon and Cornwall 7 Dorset 13 Durham 8 Essex 5 Gloucestershire 17 Greater Manchester 33 Hampshire 7 Hertfordshire — Humberside 8 Kent 4 Lancashire 10 Leicestershire 11 Lincolnshire 10 London, City of 6 Merseyside 44 Metropolitan Police District 1 Norfolk 19 Northamptonshire 19 Northumbria 29 North Yorkshire 23 Nottinghamshire — South Yorkshire 22 Staffordshire 18
Force Percentage cleared up by interview of convicted prisoner Suffolk 1 Surrey 1 Sussex 1 Thames Valley 3 Warwickshire 15 West Mercia 18 West Midlands 34 West Yorkshire 20 Wiltshire 3 ENGLAND 16
§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the clear-up rates for every police force in England and Wales during the most recent year for which figures are available.
§ Mr. John PattenThe latest available figures, for 1990, are published in Home Office statistical bulletin 4/91, which is available in the Library. They are annotated as provisional in the bulletin, but only south Wales's figure has since been revised, to 36 per cent. Figures for 1991 are not yet available.