Written question asked by Lord Harper (Conservative) on Tuesday, 15 July 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 17 July 2008. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Monday, 1 September 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.

Crimes of Violence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate she has made of the level of (a) knife crime and (b) violent crime against the person in each (i) county and (ii) constituency in England and Wales.

Answer: From April 2007, police forces have been providing the Home Office with aggregate data on serious violence (attempted murder, GBH and robbery) involving knives and sharp instruments. These offences are centrally available at police force area and region level rather than County or Constituency level, and are given in Table (A) placed in the House Library.Available data from the Homicide Index relates to offences currently recorded as homicide where the apparent method of killing was ‘sharp instrument’, as at 12 November 2007. Table (B) shows the number of such offences recorded by police force area and region in England and Wales in 2006-07 placed in the House Library.Violent crime offences by police force area and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership areas for 2006-07 and 2007-08 are given in tables (C ) and (D) respectively placed in the House Library.

Secondary information