Written question asked by David Davis (Conservative) on Wednesday, 5 March 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 7 March 2008. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Tuesday, 18 March 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.

Crime: Rural Areas

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 29 February 2008, Official Report, column 1966W, to the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone), on crime: rural areas, how many offences were recorded by the police in rural police force areas in each year from 1997-98 to 2001-02.

Answer

The information requested is shown in the following table.

Total offences recorded by the police in rural police force areas¹
Financial year	Number of offences
1997-98	625,540
1998-99²	704,144
1999-2000	710,640
2000-01	678,161
2001-02	747,283
¹ The defining of rural police force areas within England and Wales has been taken in accordance with the ACORN ('A Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods') guidance as published in the Statistical Bulletin 01/02 'Rural Crime England and Wales'. The data covers 13 forces which ACORN defines as either 'most rural' (Dyfed-Powys, Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire and North Wales) or 'less rural' (Cambridgeshire, Cumbria, Devon and Cornwall, Durham, Gloucestershire, Norfolk, Suffolk, West Mercia and Wiltshire).
² The coverage of recorded crime was expanded in 1998-99 and figures before and after that date are not directly comparable.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 192785; 473 c932W;473 c928W
Session: 2007-08
Related items: Crime: Rural Areas
Friday, 29 February 2008
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects: Crime Rural areas
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk