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Written question asked by Malcolm Moss (Conservative) on Tuesday, 8 December 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 10 December 2009. It was answered by Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour) on Tuesday, 5 January 2010 on behalf of the Home Office.


Crimes of Violence: Cambridgeshire

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of (a) grievous bodily harm and (b) actual bodily harm were recorded by each police division in Cambridgeshire in each of the last 10 years.
Answer

Cambridgeshire is divided into three basic command units (BCUs): central, northern and southern. These were set up in 2000-01, so data at this level are not available prior to this year.There was a major change in police recorded crime recording practices in April 2002 that means that figures from 2002-03 are not comparable with figures prior to that year.The introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002 brought in a more victim-focused reporting system, where victim accounts had to be accepted unless there was credible evidence to the contrary. In its first year, this was estimated to have artificially increased recording of violence against the person by 23 per cent.From 1 April 2008 there were also changes in offence classification which for the first time collected separate information on grievous bodily harm (GBH) without intent (rather than as part of a broader 'other wounding' category) and a clarification in the counting rules for grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent. This led to a step change in the levels of most serious violence for some police forces. This means figures for 2008-09 are not comparable with those for earlier years.Data for GBH offences for each BCU in Cambridgeshire are given in Table A (1999-2000 to 2001-02) and Table B (2002-03 to 2008-09).Data for actual bodily harm (ABH) offences for each BCU in Cambridgeshire are given in Table C (1999-2000 to 2001-02) and Table D (2002-03 to 2008-09).

Table A: Number of recorded offences of grievous bodily harm by basic command unit (BCU) in Cambridgeshire, 1999-2000 to 2001-02
BCU Offence 1999-2000¹ 2000-01 2001-02
Central More serious wounding or other act endangering life — 44 41
Northern More serious wounding or other act endangering life — 107 89
Southern More serious wounding or other act endangering life — 76 71
Total Cambridgeshire More serious wounding or other act endangering life 196 227 201
¹ BCUs were set up in 2000-01 so data at this level are not available prior to this year.
Table B: Number of recorded offences of grievous bodily harm by basic command unit (BCU) in Cambridgeshire, 2002-03 to 2008-09
BCU 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07¹ 2007-08 2008-09²
Central More serious wounding or other act endangering life 58 53 53 54 56 56 —
Inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent — — — — — — 111
Inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent — — — — — — 48
Racially or religiously aggravated inflicting GBH without intent — — — — — — 1
Total GBH 58 53 53 54 56 56 160
Northern More serious wounding or other act endangering life 113 150 111 96 66 77 —
Inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent — — — — — — 149
Inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent — — — — — — 69
Racially or religiously aggravated inflicting GBH without intent — — — — — — 4
Total GBH 113 150 111 96 66 77 222
Southern More serious wounding or other act endangering life 56 74 78 44 54 41 —
Inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent — — — — — — 124
Inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent — — — — — — 43
Racially or religiously aggravated inflicting GBH without intent — — — — — — 1
Total GBH 56 74 78 44 54 41 168
Total Cambridgeshire More serious wounding or other act endangering life 227 277 242 194 176 174 —
Inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent — — — — — — 384
Inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent — — — — — — 160
Racially or religiously aggravated inflicting GBH without intent — ——— — — 6
Total GBH 227 277 242 194 176 174 550
¹ Cambridgeshire BCUs were revised in 2006-07, so figures from 2006-07 are not comparable with previous years
² A clarification of counting rules in April 2008, in relation to GBH with intent, led to a step change in the levels of GBH offences for some police forces. The offence of more serious wounding or other act endangering life was also disaggregated. Therefore, figures for 2008-09 are not comparable with previous years.
Table C: Number of recorded offences of actual bodily harm by basic command unit (BCU) in Cambridgeshire, 1999-2000 to 2001-02
BCU 1999-2000¹ 2000-01 2001-02
Central Less serious wounding — 375 413
Racially or religiously aggravated less serious wounding — 4 4
Total ABH — 379 417
Northern Less serious wounding — 818 799
Racially or religiously aggravated less serious wounding — 35 23
Total ABH — 853 822
Southern Less serious wounding — 677 523
Racially or religiously aggravated less serious wounding — 17 14
Total ABH — 694 537
Total Cambridgeshire Less serious wounding 2,105 1,870 1,735
Racially or religiously aggravated less serious wounding 72 56 41
Total ABH 2,177 1,926 1,776
¹ BCUs were set up in 2000-01 so data at this level are not available prior to this year.
Table D: Number of recorded offences of actual bodily harm by basic command unit (BCU) in Cambridgeshire, 2002-03 to 2008-09
BCU 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07¹ 2007-08 2008-09²
Central Less serious wounding 1,068 1,694 1,661 1,413 1,302 1,093 —
Actual bodily harm (ABH) and other injury — — — — — — 1,102
Racially or religiously aggravated less serious wounding 9 21 20 12 13 17 —
Racially or religiously aggravated ABH or other injury — — — — — — 11
Total ABH 1,077 1,715 1,681 1,425 1,315 1,110 1,113
Northern Less serious wounding 1,498 2,225 2,261 1,926 1,812 1,688 —
Actual bodily harm (ABH) and other injury — — — — — — 1,509
Racially or religiously aggravated less serious wounding 40 58 39 31 26 21 —
Racially or religiously aggravated ABH or other injury — — — — — — 24
Total ABH 1,538 2,283 2,300 1,957 1,838 1,709 1,533
Southern Less serious wounding 1,143 1,815 1,907 1,574 1,464 1,496 —
Actual bodily harm (ABH) and other injury — — — — — — 1,437
Racially or religiously aggravated less serious wounding 14 11 14 20 19 14 —
Racially or religiously aggravated ABH or other injury — — — — — — 21
Total ABH 1,157 1,826 1,921 1,594 1,483 1,510 1,458
Total Cambridgeshire Less serious wounding 3,709 5,734 5,829 4,913 4,578 4,277 —
Actual bodily harm (ABH) and other injury — — — — — — 4,048
Racially or religiously aggravated less serious wounding 63 90 73 63 58 52 —
Racially or religiously aggravated ABH or other injury — — — — — — 56
Total ABH 3,772 6,824 5,902 4,976 4,636 4,329 4,104
¹ Cambridgeshire BCUs were revised in 2006-07.
² The offence of less serious wounding was disaggregated in April 2008.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
503 c133-40W; 306354
Session
2009-10
Subjects
Crimes of violence Cambridgeshire
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk