HC Deb 15 March 2002 vol 381 cc1264-6W
Mr. Evans

To 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. Denham

The information requested is not available.

Mr. Evans

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of violent crime 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. [40666]

Mr. Denham

Details 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.

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.