§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he has for ensuring that crime statistics are collected on a common basis by all police forces. [23457]
§ Mr. MichaelStatistics of recorded crime are based on rules for classification and counting which are standard for all police forces in England and Wales. A comprehensive set of counting rules is issued centrally and used by police forces to maintain the consistency of recording some of the more complex and potentially difficult offences, such as multiple, continuous and repeated offences.
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) regularly look into recording practices during force inspections. The Home Office also has a police statistics liaison officer who regularly visits statistics officers in the forces to discuss current issues and to monitor current procedures.
Periodically, the Home Office rules and police recording practices are reviewed to ensure consistency and to determine whether updates are necessary. Recently, both HMIC and a joint Home Office/Association of Chief Police Officers working party have undertaken such reviews. Their recommendations are being adopted in a package of measures for implementation on 1 April 1998, which were announced by my right hon. Friend on 1 October 1997. More detail was given by the Home Office's Director of Research and Statistics on 14 October.
The main measures comprise the logical extension of the coverage of recorded crimes (or notifiable offences) to include all indictable and triable either way offences: the revision of the counting rules for certain offences; to move closer to the concept of one crime per victim; a move to financial year publication; and less emphasis in publications on the overall total of recorded crime in favour of individual offence groups.