Written question asked by Lord Risby (Conservative) on Friday, 5 October 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 8 October 2007. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Tuesday, 9 October 2007 on behalf of the Home Office.

Crimes of Violence: Suffolk

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the figures were for (a) violent crime and (b) gun crime in Suffolk in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2007.

Answer: A number of changes have been made to recorded crime in response to suggestions in the two reviews of crime statistics. Once such change is that the term 'violent crime' is no longer used in connection with the recorded crime statistics and we now provide figures for violence against the person.There were 2,448 offences of violence against the person recorded in Suffolk in 1997 and 10,190 offences recorded in 2006-07, the latest year for which statistics are available. The introduction of expanded coverage in 1998 and the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in 2002 resulted in an artificial increase in recorded offences of violence against the person and figures for the two years are therefore not directly comparable.There were 17 firearms offences (excluding air weapons) in Suffolk in 1997 and 58 in 2005-06, the latest year for which data is available.

Secondary information