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Crimes of Violence

Answer

[holding answer 1 March 2010]: Information is not available in the requested format. The available information relates to offences of violence against the person with and without injury and is given in Tables 1 and 2. Summary offences of assault without injury are included within the violence against the person without injury grouping. Summary offences without injury are "assault without injury on a constable", "assault without injury", and "racially or religiously aggravated assault without injury". Separate figures for these offences are given in Table 3.These police recorded crime data relate to the number of offences recorded in each financial year.In April 2002, the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) was introduced. This brought in a more victim-focused reporting system, where victim accounts had to be accepted unless there was credible evidence to the contrary. It took some forces several years to adjust to the new recording practice, meaning that comparisons from 2002-03 to 2008-09 should be treated with caution.Home Office statisticians advise that the British Crime Survey (BCS) is the best guide to long-term trends for the crime types it covers because it has a consistent methodology and is unaffected by levels of reporting or police recording. However, the BCS is not designed to provide robust estimates of different crimes at police force area.Annual BCS figures are estimates based on data from the interviews carried out in the previous 12 months. Estimates for the violent crimes covered by the survey show a 22 per cent. fall in England and Wales from 2002-03 to 2008-09. Over the same period, police recorded crime figures show a 7 per cent. increase in violence against the person offences.Conviction data have been provided by the Ministry of Justice and relate to the number of offenders. These data are published on a calendar year basis and are counts of persons classified by their principal offence.As the data come from different sources and are reported on different periods, the two datasets are not comparable.Information on the offenders dealt with by the Criminal Justice System does not necessarily reflect wider trends for characteristics of perpetrators of crimes, where often an offender will not be apprehended.The number of persons found guilty at all courts in England and Wales for offences of violence against the person, by type and police force area, from 2002 to 2008 (latest available), can be viewed in the Tables 4, 5, and 6.Court proceedings data for 2009 are planned for publication in autumn 2010.

Table 1: Recorded offences of violence against the person with injury, 2002-03 to 2008-09
Police force	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Avon and Somerset	8,586	12,371	14,097	13,699	13,294	13,061	11,492
Bedfordshire	4,431	5,026	5,618	5,614	5,113	4,446	4,085
British Transport Police	2,231	2,850	3,242	3,517	2,841	2,562	2,529
Cambridgeshire	4,038	6,144	6,195	5,201	4,848	4,523	4,692
Cheshire	4,127	4,516	5,455	11,169	9,125	7,676	6,925
Cleveland	2,702	3,879	6,711	7,354	6,115	5,468	4,922
Cumbria	3,046	3,728	4,994	4,670	4,167	3,836	3,270
Derbyshire	10,160	11,434	12,014	11,441	11,009	10,933	8,734
Devon and Cornwall	13,471	14,577	15,568	14,075	13,211	12,246	11,088
Dorset	2,713	4,304	5,194	5,872	5,146	4,692	5,010
Durham	2,344	2,343	2,675	5,557	5,191	4,775	3,679
Dyfed-Powys	3,178	4,209	4,143	3,842	3,592	2,880	2,672
Essex	12,539	13,977	13,569	13,254	11,953	10,861	9,628
Gloucestershire	2,841	4,288	5,359	5,251	4,575	3,734	3,471
Greater Manchester	30,712	33,196	29,710	27,988	27,580	23,858	22,424
Gwent	6,972	6,621	7,087	7,101	6,655	6,013	5,823
Hampshire	7,339	11,607	14,369	13,427	14,728	15,393	15,152
Hertfordshire	3,312	4,882	8,494	7,706	7,064	5,496	4,963
Humberside	9,257	12,704	12,975	13,230	12,870	9,089	8,727
Kent	8,048	9,899	12,870	14,801	14,360	12,721	11,961
Lancashire	8,499	14,950	15,666	15,026	13,953	13,228	12,105
Leicestershire	5,682	7,106	9,597	9,390	9,135	8,617	7,837
Lincolnshire	4,889	5,709	5,804	5,295	4,566	3,958	3,856
London, City of	298	286	298	263	273	351	343
Merseyside	12,719	16,783	18,573	17,028	13,098	9,798	8,214
Metropolitan Police	44,387	45,151	71,958	86,020	79,698	73,302	71,462
Norfolk	4,309	5,565	5,838	5,871	5,229	4,577	3,773
Northamptonshire	5,127	7,010	6,571	6,694	5,752	5,418	4,857
Northumbria	7,910	15,169	14,067	12,773	13,358	11,033	10,488
North Wales	6,377	6,498	6,948	6,505	5,630	4,204	4,315
North Yorkshire	2,012	3,245	6,546	6,352	5,512	4,448	4,324
Nottinghamshire	10,659	12,076	12,755	14,538	13,049	10,985	11,814
South Wales	10,657	11,123	10,568	11,835	10,387	10,442	10,104
South Yorkshire	5,024	5,605	7,180	16,212	16,730	14,699	12,643
Staffordshire	9,805	12,449	13,290	12,597	12,224	9,731	9,733
Suffolk	3,677	4,596	5,075	5,102	4,631	3,902	4,008
Surrey	4,636	4,985	5,288	5,913	5,317	5,128	4,586
Sussex	6,097	12,008	14,439	13,371	12,140	9,862	8,355
Thames Valley	10,771	12,699	15,561	15,619	14,765	14,180	14,547
Warwickshire	2,232	4,111	3,753	3,936	3,809	3,746	3,044
West Mercia	10,142	11,079	10,483	9,601	9,165	8,538	7,722
West Midlands	32,443	35,760	34,842	36,465	36,579	33,216	29,575
West Yorkshire	18,366	27,432	25,997	27,813	22,991	20,214	18,216
Wiltshire	3,359	3,872	3,830	4,617	5,166	4,478	3,797
England and Wales	372,124	457,822	515,266	543,605	506,594	452,318	420,965

Table 2: Recorded offences of violence against the person without injury, 2002-03 to 2008-09
Police force	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Avon and Somerset	12,153	14,159	17,365	16,797	17,587	14,086	15,101
Bedfordshire	3,667	3,781	4,519	4,192	4,026	3,153	3,166
British Transport Police	7,945	8,632	9,872	10,864	13,291	12,963	12,971
Cambridgeshire	8,536	7,519	7,163	4,957	5,573	5,773	5,224
Cheshire	6,575	9,558	10,153	7,348	8,144	7,428	7,244
Cleveland	3,580	5,320	4,941	6,958	7,813	7,447	5,740
Cumbria	2,679	3,146	4,201	4,536	4,020	4,219	3,843
Derbyshire	5,253	4,963	4,570	4,519	5,056	5,796	5,625
Devon and Cornwall	10,249	11,392	12,767	11,230	11,551	10,893	9,936
Dorset	5,436	4,843	5,556	6,058	6,659	6,425	5,430
Durham	5,367	4,222	4,352	4,342	4,826	3,850	3,756
Dyfed-Powys	3,039	3,700	4,172	3,869	4,102	3,076	2,998
Essex	9,551	12,033	11,792	10,626	10,870	12,284	12,246
Gloucestershire	4,893	4,015	4,190	5,245	6,256	5,572	5,083
Greater Manchester	17,892	20,776	23,498	24,960	29,471	26,430	23,605
Gwent	8,047	6,310	5,805	4,402	5,062	4,185	3,583
Hampshire	14,832	23,541	23,804	25,259	25,841	23,635	20,460
Hertfordshire	4,356	7,474	8,351	8,500	9,826	7,852	7,140
Humberside	7,201	12,613	11,215	9,285	10,999	10,269	9,334
Kent	10,310	10,613	9,987	12,011	13,194	12,470	12,141
Lancashire	7,285	11,725	15,918	13,815	12,838	11,784	11,097
Leicestershire	9,822	10,487	11,973	11,610	11,270	10,162	10,682
Lincolnshire	4,349	4,439	5,052	5,431	5,691	5,444	5,058
London, City of	630	563	693	679	694	583	510
Merseyside	9,975	9,663	15,605	17,769	12,896	10,930	10,801
Metropolitan Police	134,395	141,036	129,965	111,242	102,656	99,428	102,949
Norfolk	6,298	6,021	7,082	6,633	6,353	5,349	4,901
Northamptonshire	4,681	4,060	4,590	3,798	4,361	5,194	4,618
Northumbria	17,261	9,628	8,791	9,222	10,891	8,512	8,659
North Wales	5,095	4,481	5,073	5,825	8,793	6,904	6,840
North Yorkshire	6,096	6,365	5,499	5,121	4,575	5,024	3,812
Nottinghamshire	5,300	6,555	7,002	6,778	8,889	8,851	7,796
South Wales	9,769	10,072	9,539	9,213	9,446	11,671	11,074
South Yorkshire	7,264	7,894	14,033	12,963	11,225	9,754	7,985
Staffordshire	10,385	10,325	10,291	11,630	12,504	10,069	10,046
Suffolk	4,272	4,933	5,272	4,915	5,559	5,511	5,422
Surrey	3,879	4,668	5,378	5,325	8,206	8,957	8,262
Sussex	12,026	7,492	12,654	14,496	16,484	15,220	11,911
Thames Valley	14,555	15,889	18,662	20,368	26,657	28,101	26,269
Warwickshire	3,455	2,755	2,738	2,633	3,577	3,780	2,931
West Mercia	9,706	10,788	7,696	6,098	6,845	7,161	7,077
West Midlands	19,351	20,095	20,264	20,521	21,211	20,119	18,647
West Yorkshire	12,484	18,432	18,612	21,064	20,275	18,803	16,370
Wiltshire	3,060	2,430	2,174	2,871	3,510	3,664	4,134
England and Wales	472,954	509,406	532,829	515,978	539,573	508,781	482,477

Table 3: Recorded summary offences of assault without injury, 2002-03 to 2008-09¹,²
Police force	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Avon and Somerset	6,258	6,458	8,269	7,812	8,536	7,169	7,407
Bedfordshire	2,021	1,781	1,845	1,787	1,866	1,321	1,512
British Transport Police	3,668	3,934	4,315	4,316	4,631	3,996	3,936
Cambridgeshire	4,847	3,607	3,590	2,252	2,828	3,224	2,907
Cheshire	4,776	7,374	7,147	3,381	4,195	4,463	4,058
Cleveland	2,440	3,969	2,558	3,282	3,416	3,784	3,283
Cumbria	1,448	1,528	1,900	1,946	1,830	2,114	1,646
Derbyshire	2,515	1,962	1,403	1,398	1,721	2,043	2,753
Devon and Cornwall	6,130	7,213	7,880	5,788	5,586	5,325	5,291
Dorset	3,977	3,050	2,491	2,566	2,892	3,193	2,864
Durham	3,560	2,490	2,471	1,750	1,733	1,304	1,533
Dyfed-Powys	942	1,557	1,896	1,439	1,660	1,337	1,189
Essex	4,057	4,628	3,765	3,393	3,779	5,281	5,720
Gloucestershire	3,333	2,512	2,197	2,236	2,927	2,804	2,933
Greater Manchester	7,952	8,261	7,237	7,075	9,071	9,352	9,668
Gwent	2,308	1,774	1,395	892	837	780	508
Hampshire	9,768	13,016	10,883	11,589	11,759	11,334	10,891
Hertfordshire	2,538	4,477	4,140	3,972	4,204	3,995	3,640
Humberside	3,436	4,161	4,909	3,989	4,580	3,577	3,643
Kent	6,998	6,984	5,928	6,849	7,805	7,738	7,251
Lancashire	3,748	6,512	7,794	6,467	6,110	6,241	6,348
Leicestershire	6,092	5,745	5,104	4,475	4,670	4,272	4,308
Lincolnshire	2,387	2,308	2,104	1,913	2,631	2,362	2,364
London, City of	259	201	199	199	191	222	192
Merseyside	6,115	4,186	5,814	5,567	4,948	4,179	3,671
Metropolitan Police	88,636	90,884	69,855	52,096	47,727	43,976	43,975
Norfolk	3,976	3,546	3,908	3,582	3,242	3,024	2,734
Northamptonshire	2,842	2,049	2,448	1,892	2,301	2,981	2,956
Northumbria	10,800	3,319	2,882	2,548	3,137	2,754	3,238
North Wales	3,186	2,495	2,461	2,592	4,102	3,145	2,790
North Yorkshire	3,989	3,832	2,117	2,185	1,942	1,878	1,906
Nottinghamshire	2,209	2,941	3,063	2,181	3,795	3,963	3,025
South Wales	3,223	3,183	2,841	2,992	3,069	4,016	4,239
South Yorkshire	4,511	5,073	9,466	4,872	3,763	3,083	2,452
Staffordshire	5,853	5,396	4,829	5,402	5,543	4,847	5,245
Suffolk	2,234	2,324	2,285	2,275	2,277	2,091	2,021
Surrey	2,077	2,586	2,627	2,249	3,112	3,612	3,842
Sussex	9,085	3,703	5,962	6,491	8,406	7,941	7,211
Thames Valley	8,728	8,516	7,529	7,128	11,354	12,022	11,496
Warwickshire	2,626	1,869	1,598	1,098	1,735	2,140	1,473
West Mercia	4,899	5,146	3,219	2,133	2,592	3,298	3,245
West Midlands	5,952	3,992	3,486	3,452	4,391	4,753	5,393
West Yorkshire	7,908	5,980	5,671	7,465	10,651	10,695	9,358
Wiltshire	1,792	1,057	701	751	1,256	1,851	2,503
England and Wales	276,099	267,579	244,182	209,717	228,801	223,480	218,618
¹ The numbers given in this table are also included in Table 2.
² Offence Classifications 104, 105A and 105B were used to produce the table.

Table 4: Number of defendants found guilty at all courts for violence against the person (more serious offences)¹, by police force area—England and Wales 2002 to 2008², ³, 4
Police force	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Avon and Somerset	77	87	86	88	87	75	68
Bedfordshire	39	32	42	33	31	47	42
Cambridgeshire	42	31	46	29	41	43	38
Cheshire	50	53	54	84	58	70	44
City of London	5	1	2	—	1	—	3
Cleveland	46	54	52	61	53	52	46
Cumbria	23	26	30	35	19	24	23
Derbyshire	40	37	58	55	32	37	32
Devon and Cornwall	67	58	69	92	63	64	59
Dorset	22	20	26	33	34	29	21
Durham	44	44	53	42	38	37	27
Essex	57	73	55	65	53	71	71
Gloucestershire	19	24	24	20	17	23	18
Greater Manchester	257	222	226	238	223	245	229
Hampshire	109	99	130	121	104	101	80
Hertfordshire	53	40	43	61	33	34	39
Humberside	47	74	77	69	71	86	67
Kent	60	67	74	79	72	78	100
Lancashire	109	116	130	123	91	122	124
Leicestershire	59	66	78	64	36	60	66
Lincolnshire	18	28	32	15	33	30	47
Merseyside	103	115	107	120	126	108	82
Metropolitan Police	515	529	612	589	578	604	652
Norfolk	35	31	30	39	40	29	40
North Yorkshire	29	26	32	50	32	54	34
Northamptonshire	43	26	39	35	40	49	37
Northumbria	113	121	109	117	115	136	129
Nottinghamshire	52	58	56	76	71	63	71
South Yorkshire	96	68	117	92	93	86	89
Staffordshire	55	46	65	56	64	46	58
Suffolk	39	29	34	30	26	13	35
Surrey	17	25	31	20	24	35	21
Sussex	72	65	73	67	70	70	93
Thames Valley	83	93	88	107	110	111	112
Warwickshire	23	18	21	29	23	29	24
West Mercia	49	58	53	59	49	63	43
West Midlands	230	222	247	228	238	221	206
West Yorkshire	131	163	192	180	131	171	214
Wiltshire	25	19	30	28	21	20	33
Dyfed-Powys	21	30	28	27	21	31	30
Gwent	64	45	59	52	28	36	28
North Wales	30	27	32	54	36	40	43
South Wales	133	129	112	127	116	110	106
England and Wales	3,201	3,195	3,554	3,589	3,242	3,453	3,424
¹ Includes: Murder, Attempted murder, Threat or conspiracy to murder, Manslaughter, Infanticide, Child destruction, Causing death by dangerous driving, Manslaughter due to diminished responsibility, Causing death by careless driving under the influence of drink or drugs, Causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable person, Causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving, Causing death by driving,—unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured drivers, Causing death by aggravated vehicle taking, Wounding or other act endangering life, Endangering railway passenger.
² The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
³ Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
4 Excludes convictions for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008.
Source:
Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice

Table 5: Number of defendants found guilty at all courts for violence against the person (less serious offences)¹, by police force area—England and Wales 2002 to 2008², ³, 4
Police force	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Avon and Somerset	737	848	747	829	830	856	888
Bedfordshire	227	265	284	336	335	315	354
Cambridgeshire	360	344	362	484	417	430	471
Cheshire	631	562	487	704	825	849	713
City of London	60	54	43	43	33	23	37
Cleveland	400	416	464	508	667	641	649
Cumbria	437	443	428	508	473	434	461
Derbyshire	585	638	643	847	639	730	620
Devon and Cornwall	766	908	807	820	751	699	732
Dorset	289	295	307	415	372	349	313
Durham	567	522	498	616	660	675	612
Essex	561	629	772	767	755	842	799
Gloucestershire	299	314	287	347	329	241	341
Greater Manchester	2,345	2,522	2,751	2,608	2,838	2,821	2,520
Hampshire	1,124	1,167	1,202	1,192	1,240	1,214	1,286
Hertfordshire	486	467	517	622	546	485	443
Humberside	608	703	719	732	783	867	792
Kent	617	659	542	644	695	702	812
Lancashire	1,175	1,176	1,171	1,228	1,507	1,594	1,497
Leicestershire	739	715	724	825	730	714	641
Lincolnshire	292	335	388	351	369	380	378
Merseyside	1,211	1,237	1,331	1,301	1,409	1,396	1,313
Metropolitan Police	5,879	5,342	5,468	5,471	5,590	5,406	6,132
Norfolk	361	372	336	384	430	386	380
North Yorkshire	336	365	426	463	467	545	510
Northamptonshire	262	269	295	334	285	267	386
Northumbria	1,361	1,270	1,201	1,263	1,227	1,391	1,317
Nottinghamshire	687	688	694	761	784	791	712
South Yorkshire	927	951	946	1,060	1,090	1,131	1,224
Staffordshire	601	642	667	681	727	714	704
Suffolk	329	367	410	455	545	469	379
Surrey	206	229	263	253	302	311	316
Sussex	629	674	603	713	778	847	802
Thames Valley	682	698	713	938	1,038	998	977
Warwickshire	195	190	232	260	303	273	276
West Mercia	650	654	642	779	860	846	779
West Midlands	2,860	2,764	2,731	2,299	2,610	2,389	2,342
West Yorkshire	1,216	1,290	1,607	1,557	1,331	1,477	1,542
Wiltshire	271	335	296	371	439	376	392
Dyfed-Powys	332	386	320	335	329	335	228
Gwent	553	482	512	433	538	530	403
North Wales	406	440	477	550	641	612	574
South Wales	1,248	1,214	1,282	1,253	1,105	1,147	1,048
England and Wales	34,507	34,841	35,595	37,340	38,622	38,498	38,095
¹ Includes: Endangering life at sea, Other wounding etc., Cruelty to or neglect of children, Abandoning child aged under two years, Child abduction, procuring illegal abortion, Concealment of birth.
² The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
³ Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
4 Excludes convictions for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008.
Source:
Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice

Table 6: Number of defendants found guilty at all courts for common assault, by police force area—England and Wales 2002 to 2008¹, ², ³
Police force	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Avon and Somerset	754	789	934	1,279	1,246	1,413	1,484
Bedfordshire	246	307	364	452	528	442	491
Cambridgeshire	334	347	396	563	699	736	762
Cheshire	508	544	575	831	1,182	1,396	1,244
City of London	28	18	21	23	44	47	60
Cleveland	234	350	426	444	515	634	657
Cumbria	359	407	474	573	593	687	775
Derbyshire	561	684	883	1,130	1,158	1,328	1,463
Devon and Cornwall	1,044	1,041	1,204	1,333	1,171	1,168	1,365
Dorset	363	340	406	518	605	756	670
Durham	341	318	337	434	457	665	551
Essex	840	894	1,068	1,419	1,624	1,724	1,656
Gloucestershire	287	307	349	498	520	462	614
Greater Manchester	998	1,183	1,825	2,135	2,637	2,830	2,653
Hampshire	1,322	1,480	1,982	1,863	1,966	2,248	2,216
Hertfordshire	376	461	621	856	901	861	860
Humberside	444	587	755	842	888	1,029	1,017
Kent	810	930	1,075	1,153	1,351	1,454	1,421
Lancashire	844	993	1,034	1,512	1,957	2,131	2,145
Leicestershire	527	630	734	1,098	1,156	1,407	1,275
Lincolnshire	480	570	567	585	619	570	571
Merseyside	671	946	1,153	1,287	1,464	1,520	1,456
Metropolitan Police	2,829	2,941	3,416	4,063	5,096	5,304	5,888
Norfolk	612	617	678	662	728	792	881
North Yorkshire	420	438	582	765	800	753	726
Northamptonshire	283	331	361	419	423	427	426
Northumbria	776	947	1,106	1,128	1,226	1,586	1,468
Nottinghamshire	910	906	917	1,098	1,143	1,043	1,033
South Yorkshire	580	724	929	1,049	1,184	1,343	1,286
Staffordshire	780	802	938	1,080	1,107	1,116	943
Suffolk	467	536	704	770	836	822	807
Surrey	293	415	492	601	559	603	591
Sussex	768	809	1,075	1,099	1,124	1,382	1,439
Thames Valley	796	841	984	1,524	1,696	1,664	1,639
Warwickshire	192	176	194	273	303	426	351
West Mercia	676	733	948	1,131	1,208	1,225	1,102
West Midlands	2,467	2,529	2,793	2,848	2,937	2,978	2,742
West Yorkshire	1,577	2,010	2,445	2,579	2,362	2,428	2,345
Wiltshire	519	623	616	620	615	531	547
Dyfed-Powys	258	317	350	358	459	443	393
Gwent	374	343	371	387	512	543	571
North Wales	476	501	566	643	736	791	842
South Wales	525	617	682	820	925	985	893
England and Wales	28,949	32,282	38,330	44,745	49,260	52,693	52,319
¹ The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
² Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
³ Excludes convictions for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008.
Source:
Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

508 c1524-36W; 319820

Session

2009-10

Subjects

Crimes of violence

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk