Written question asked by David Leslie Taylor (Labour) on Monday, 21 November 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 23 November 2005. It was answered by Hazel Blears (Labour) on Tuesday, 29 November 2005 on behalf of the Home Office.

Crime Reduction

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what methods his Department uses to record crimes against small businesses.

Answer: The Home Office publishes annual total crime statistics recorded by the police in England and Wales for the following offences specifically relating to business crime; robbery of business property, theft by an employee, theft from shops, and theft of an automatic machine or meter.However we are aware that, given the complexity and range of crimes experienced by the business sector, no one method of collecting data will provide a sufficiently complete picture. We are therefore considering how both police and survey data collection can be refined and extended to give us a more accurate and comprehensive overview of the crimes experienced by businesses.

Secondary information