§ Mr. WoodwardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will publish figures for race hate crimes committed in each year between 1990 and 1999 as a proportion of all reported crime; [109464]
256W(2) if he will publish figures for successful prosecutions of race hate crimes committed in (a) the Thames Valley police area, (b) the Metropolitan police force area and (c) England in each year between 1990 and 1999; [109463]
(3) what were the annual police figures for reported race hate crimes in (a) England, (b) the Thames Valley police area and (c) the Metropolitan police area in each year between 1990 and 1999. [109462]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeInformation is available on the new racially aggravated offences which were introduced under the Crime and Disorder Act in October 1998. The latest information indicates that 10,982 offences were recorded by all police forces in England and Wales for the period 1 April 1999–30 September 1999, 218 in Thames Valley and 7,473 in the Metropolitan police.
Additional information is also available on the number of racist incidents that were recorded by the police which is wider in definition than crimes. Information covering 1993–94 to 1998–99 was published in December 1999 in Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System, a copy of which is in the Library. Owing to the broader definition of such offences than those covered by the recorded crime statistics it would be misleading to compare the two figures. It is currently not possible to say what proportion of such offences resulted in successful prosecutions.