§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the most frequent types of crime in Coventry are; what the level is of violent crime; and how many reports of these crimes there were(a) in 1998 and (b) at the last date for which figures are available. [20956]
§ Mr. Denham[holding answer 10 December 2001]: Over the West Midlands as a whole, the most common category of crime is theft (including handling of stolen goods), which comprises about 38 per cent. of crime recorded by the police. This category is also the most common over England and Wales as a whole. Figures for all theft are not collected centrally below police force area level.
Totals of offences of violence against the person, sexual offences, and robbery, which comprise violent crime, have been collected at the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) level since 1 April 1999. The total numbers of violent offences recorded in the Coventry CDRP area in the years ending March 2000 and March 2001 were 5,986 and 6,912 respectively.
It should be noted that recorded violent crime is subject to changes in reporting and recording. The 2001 British Crime Survey found that, over England and Wales as a whole, reporting to the police of violent offences comparable to those in recorded crime rose from 35 per cent. in 1999 to 45 per cent. in 2000.
Also, the British Crime Survey has shown that, in England and Wales as a whole, victimisation for the violent crime in the survey which is comparable to recorded crime decreased by 19 per cent. between the 1999 and 2000 calendar years, whereas comparable violent crime recorded by the police increased by nine per cent. Violent crime recorded by the police may therefore not necessarily be a reflection of real changes in the level of victimisation.