Written question asked by Lord Grayling (Conservative) on Monday, 2 February 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 4 February 2009. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Monday, 23 February 2009 on behalf of the Home Office.

Crime: Statistics

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which criminal offences are included in the official crime figures but excluded from the British Crime Survey.

Answer: The official crime figures are compiled from both police recorded crime and the British Crime Survey (BCS). The two are a complementary series and together these provide a more comprehensive picture of crime than could be obtained from either series alone.Prior to January 2009 the BCS was restricted to adults living in the general household population in England and Wales. Since then the survey has been extended to children 10 years and over.The BCS does not include offences committed against children under 10 years or those where the victim is not in the resident household population, such as private and public sector organisations, tourists, residents of institutions and the homeless. The survey also excludes drug offences and homicide because it is based on interviews with individual victims.

Secondary information