§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of drink related and disorderly crime there were reported in 1997 and each subsequent year in(a) Preston, (b) Blackburn, (c) Lancashire, (d) the North West of England, (e) Wales and (f) the UK. [40650]
§ Mr. DenhamThe information requested is not available.
§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of violent crime were reported in 1997 and each subsequent 1265W year in (a) Preston, (b) Blackburn, (c) Lancashire,(d) the North West of England, (e) Wales and (f) the UK. [40666]
§ Mr. DenhamDetails are given in the table. Details for Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership areas have been collected centrally since 1 April 1999.
There was a change in counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998, which expanded the offences covered, and placed a greater emphasis on counting crimes in terms of numbers of victims. Numbers of recorded crimes after this date are therefore not directly comparable with previous years. Over England and Wales as a whole, the change in counting rules caused an increase in total recorded violent crime of 83 per cent.
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 in total rose from 37 per cent. in 1997 to 45 per cent. in the 2000 calendar year.
The British Crime Survey has also shown that, in England and Wales as a whole, the number of violent crimes recorded in the survey decreased by 23 per cent. between the 1997 and 2000 calendar years, whereas violent crime recorded by the police increased by an estimated 14 per cent. Violent crime recorded by the police may therefore not necessarily be a reflection of real changes in the level of violent crime.
1266W
Table 3: Police Officer Strength as at 30 September 2001 by police force area, rank and gender, and officers per 100,000 population England and Wales Full time equivalents1 Male Ranks Police force Chief Constables Assistant Chief Constables Superintendents Chief Inspectors Inspectors Sergeants Constables Total Male Ranks Avon and Somerset 1 3 23 29 135 411 1,971 2,573 Bedfordshire 1 2 12 9 52 124 654 854 Cambridgeshire 1 2 16 10 62 182 862 1,135 Cheshire 1 3 13 24 95 289 1,241 1,666 Cleveland 1 1 25 1 67 180 904 1,179 Cumbria 1 1 9 13 44 152 664 883 Derbyshire 1 3 17 22 87 249 1,179 1,558 Devon and Cornwall 1 1 30 33 130 385 1,865 2,447 Dorset 0 2 14 20 54 186 846 1,122 Durham 1 2 18 19 74 199 981 1,294 Essex 1 3 23 40 122 402 1,861 2,452 Gloucestershire 1 2 11 14 55 154 701 937 Greater Manchester 1 6 72 72 315 819 4,446 5,731 Hampshire 1 3 34 35 157 479 2,121 2,830 Hertfordshire 1 3 19 26 89 225 1,118 1,480 Humberside 1 2 23 21 101 252 1,243 1,643 Kent 1 4 29 33 139 432 2,069 2,707 Lancashire 0 2 28 37 150 467 2,019 2,702 Leicestershire 1 1 15 18 87 239 1,365 1,726 Lincolnshire 1 2 9 15 61 169 751 1,008 London, City of3 1 2 9 12 48 100 433 605 Merseyside 1 3 39 54 154 528 2,645 3,424 Metropolitan Police2,3 6 23 205 355 1,174 3,669 15,927 21,359 Norfolk 1 3 14 15 76 191 902 1,202 Northamptonshire 1 2 13 7 55 148 741 967 Northumbria 1 4 35 52 169 498 2,486 3,245 North Yorkshire 1 3 12 13 62 206 869 1,166 Nottinghamshire 1 3 21 24 116 323 1,411 1,899 South Yorkshire 1 4 35 46 168 430 1,919 2,603 Staffordshire 1 3 18 23 92 313 1,265 1,715 Suffolk 1 I 12 14 50 151 717 946 Surrey 1 2 15 20 74 248 1,280 1,640 Information relating to Scotland and Northern Ireland are matters for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and for Northern Ireland.
Recorded violent crime1: number of offences from 1997 to 12 months ending March 2001 Area 1997 1998–992 1999–20002 2000–012 Preston2 — — 1,705 1,695 Blackburn with Darwen= — — 1,423 1,996 Lancashire 5,550 12,183 11,615 13,870 North West of England 46,224 87,033 93,029 95,940 Wales 20,071 34,770 40,580 40,822 England and Wales 347,064 605,797 703,105 733,374 1 Violent crime is comprised of violence against the person, sexual offences, and robbery. 2 Year ending March. 3 These figures are at Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) level. —No data available.