Written question asked by Lord Avebury (Liberal Democrat), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord McNally (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 22 October 2010.

Crime: Race and Criminal Justice Statistics

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will provide that the annual Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System include all available information about the religion or beliefs of the defendants and victims; and that separate tables are given for racially and religiously aggravated offences.

Answer: The Ministry of Justice Head of Profession for Statistics is responsible for the content and timing of Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System, and takes very seriously the view of users of the publication. Police data on racially or religiously aggravated offences have been published in the report since 2002 and tables showing the figures for individual police force areas have been published since 2003. Due to the way in which police figures are recorded, it is not possible to separate offences that are racially aggravated from those that are religiously aggravated. The religion and belief of defendants and victims has been collected by the CPS since April 2007, and we are assessing data quality for inclusion in the next publication. The Ministry of Justice's chief statistician is responsible for the timing and content of statistical releases and will ensure that if the data are of sufficient quality it will be published.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 2655; 721 c205-6WA
Session: 2010-12
Related items: Crime: Race and Criminal Justice Statistics
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Written questions
House of Lords
Subjects: Crime Offenders Racially aggravated offences Statistics Religion Victims Religiously aggravated offences
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk