Written question asked by Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Evans of Temple Guiting (Labour) on Monday, 26 February 2007.

Crime: Rape

Question: asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether every allegation of rape which is drawn to the attention of each police force, sexual assault referral centre or other rape victim handling centre is included in the national statistics that are reported to Parliament.

Answer: Published national statistics include all offences of rape that are recorded as crimes by police, including cases where the victim has reported to the police and been examined at a sexual assault referral centre. They exclude cases that are ““no crimed”” because they meet one of the following criteria:(i) there is additional verifiable information that a crime did not take place;(ii) the crime was committed outside the jurisdication of the recording force; (iii) the crime constitutes part of a crime already recorded; or (iv) the reported incident was recorded as a crime in error. Each sexual assault referral centre (SARC) operates according to local protocols with respect to how anonymous third-party referrals are reported to the police. We are currently working with the national SARC steering group to develop a consistent approach to crime recording in these circumstances.

Secondary information