Written question asked by David Davis (Conservative) on Monday, 19 May 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 21 May 2008. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Tuesday, 10 June 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.

Crime: Statistics

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children under 16 years-old will be interviewed when the British Crime Survey is extended to this age group.

Answer: The Home Office sought independent expert advice on the feasibility of extending the BCS to include children under 16 years old and this was published on 15 May 2008 (see following link to report).The advice we received was to obtain a sample of children aged 10-15 within households already selected for the core BCS. Based on this, we expect to interview around 4,000 under 16 year-olds every year."http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs08/horr06c.pdf"

Secondary information