§ Mr. WatsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many incidences of retail crime there were in each of the metropolitan boroughs in the last 12 months for which figures are available; [78138]
(2) how many incidents of (a) shoplifting, (b) armed robbery and (c) assaults in high street shops there were in the past 12 months; [77981]
(3) how many incidents of recorded crime in the last three years have been classed as retail crime, broken down by police force; [77980]
(4) how many cases of violent assault there were against (a) rail workers, (b) benefits agency staff and (c) retail staff in the last 12 months for which figures are available; [77978]
(5) how many instances of violence to retail staff were recorded in the last 12 months for which figures are available; [78134]
(6) what percentage of violent crime was against shop staff in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [78130]
§ Mr. DenhamRecorded crime statistics do not normally identify the location of offences, or the occupation of victims. The one recorded crime which can be identified as retail crime is theft from a shop, and figures for each police force area for the last three years are given in the table. The figures may have been affected in comparison to the previous year as a result of changes to recording practices. Some police forces implemented the principles of the National Crime Recording178W Standard (NCRS) in advance of its national implementation on 1 April 2002. This had the estimated effect of uplifting total recorded crime figures by 5 per cent. this year.
Figures on the location of firearms robberies indicate that there were 1,323 robberies in shops in the 2000–01 financial year. This includes offences where air weapons, imitation weapons and unidentified firearms were used.
The Home Office, together with the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), will shortly be undertaking a major cross-Government survey of crime that affects retail and manufacturing premises across England and Wales. More than 3,000 premises will be surveyed in each of these sectors. The survey will collect detailed information on the circumstances of crime against business, levels of concern about crime, the overall social and economic impact of crime on businesses and levels of satisfaction with police response and advice on crime.
179W
Recorded crime: 1999–2000 to 2001–02 in England and Wales Theft from shops (number of offences) Police force area 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–021 Avon and Somerset 7,958 8,741 9,106 Bedfordshire 3,007 3,105 3,663 Cambridgeshire 3,630 3,743 4,024 Cheshire 4,883 4,906 4,599 Cleveland 6,365 6,228 6,916 Cumbria 2,584 2,339 2,798 Derbyshire 4,316 4,537 5,022 Devon and Cornwall 6,346 6,414 5,853 Dorset 3,088 3,011 3,180 Durham 2,944 3,042 3,522 Essex2 7,116 6,788 7,149 Gloucestershire 3,471 3,697 3,670 Greater Manchester 16,308 16,196 16,648 Hampshire 10,234 9,674 9,311 Hertfordshire2 3,328 4,060 4,424 Humberside 7,188 7,487 8,075 Kent 8,059 8,191 7,943 Lancashire 6,680 7,123 8,050 Leicestershire 4,398 4,184 4,593 Lincolnshire 2,709 2,948 3,504 London City of 619 650 755 Merseyside 8,777 9,584 9,777 Metropolitan Police2 48,015 41,713 42,522 Norfolk 3,480 3,801 3,443 Northamptonshire 3,348 3,107 3,451 Northumbria 9,719 10,757 10,566 North Yorkshire 4,053 3,949 4,304 Nottinghamshire 8,533 9,226 10,113 South Yorkshire 7,202 7,525 7,638 Staffordshire 5,981 6,287 6,425 Suffolk 3,118 3,404 3,072 Surrey2 2,957 3,602 3,687 Sussex 8,115 7,788 8,157 Thames Valley 9,628 10,796 11,191 Warwickshire 1,976 2,100 2,463 West Mercia 5,732 5,792 6,443 West Midlands 17,891 18,877 20,053 West Yorkshire 11,864 11,317 12,735 Wiltshire 2,623 2,509 2,544 Dyfed-Powys 1,656 1,503 1,427 Gwent 3,213 2,909 3,085
Recorded crime: 1999–2000 to 2001–02 in England and Wales Theft from shops (number of offences) Police force area 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–021 North Wales 2,708 2,890 3,681 South Wales 6,674 6,580 6,726 Total 292,494 293,080 306,308 1 Numbers of recorded crimes will be affected by changes in reporting and recording (NCRS). 2 There was a boundary change on 1 April 2000 in which some parts of the Metropolitan police area were transferred to Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey, so that the police force areas followed county boundaries thereafter. The figures for these forces before and after this date are therefore not directly comparable.