---

Home Office

Answer

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fraud cases were investigated in each police authority area in (a) 1979, (b) 1983, (c) 1987, (d) 1992 and (e) each year since 1995; what was the clear up rate in each year; and what estimate he has made of the value of such fraud in each year since 1995. [129129] Mr. Charles Clarke: Fraud offences comprise part of the offence group covering both fraud and forgery. The number of fraud and forgery offences recorded in the years requested in each police force, and the clear up rate, are given in the tables. The counting rules for recorded crime changed from 1 April 1998. The effect on the number of fraud and forgery offences recorded was substantial, resulting in an estimated increase of 61 per cent. due to counting rules changes in England and Wales as a whole. The Economic Cost of Fraud, a report for the Home Office and the Serious Fraud Office, will be published by National Economic Research Associates (NERA) on Tuesday 11 July. The report will provide estimates of expenditure on investigations, court proceedings and preventative measures, and the amounts of money defrauded across all sectors of the economy, for the years 1997 and 1998. Fraud and forgery offences _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1979 1983 1987 1992 Police force Offences Clear-up Offences Clear-up Offences Clear-up Offences Clear-up recorded rate (%) recorded rate (%) recorded rate (%) recorded rate (%) Avon and Somerset 2,570 90 3,507 78 5,537 75 5,699 46 Bedfordshire 1,783 90 1,199 60 1,648 59 2,101 42 Cambridgeshire 928 87 910 70 967 66 1,764 49 Cheshire 982 98 1,690 91 1,642 83 2,414 74 Cleveland 2,140 78 1,501 65 2,598 58 1,679 36 Cumbria 1,094 91 622 74 935 81 858 63 Derbyshire 2,547 94 1,973 90 1,489 84 1,349 55 Devon and Cornwall 2,289 86 3,628 87 3,849 79 3,601 46 Dorset 2,271 92 2,178 84 2,824 83 3,726 87 Durham 1,391 97 1,497 86 1,840 18 2,572 75 Essex 2,281 86 1,734 61 1,966 60 3,670 40 Gloucestershire 780 92 876 69 1,356 82 2,087 46 Greater Manchester 8,066 96 13,746 87 12,426 83 11,819 74 Hampshire 4,231 91 2,826 67 3,862 73 5,146 61 Hertfordshire 3,437 97 1,660 84 2,531 90 1,594 51 Humberside 1,217 84 1,525 76 2,827 55 3,184 44 Kent 2,672 89 1,482 58 1,842 60 4,356 40 Lancashire 2,512 94 2,791 84 4,384 92 3,833 80 Leciestershire 1,349 93 2,107 81 2,048 76 3,156 51 Lincolnshire 690 82 809 70 933 61 1,404 64 City of London 407 52 372 56 499 46 485 45 Merseyside 3,342 83 5,416 81 4,680 73 5,098 73 Metropolitan police district 25,954 60 29,714 49 27,892 47 39,664 44 Norfolk 1,108 86 1,001 77 1,096 72 1,814 57 Northamptonshire 1,285 86 1,058 78 1,237 65 1,556 52 Northumbria 2,413 89 2,204 57 3,081 71 3,507 37 North Yorkshire 1,267 93 895 77 1,070 77 1,033 72 Nottinghamshire 2,850 78 2,116 54 2,760 57 4,023 37 South Yorkshire 1,845 89 1,648 73 1,638 75 2,009 60 Staffordshire 1,668 84 1,128 65 1,371 68 2,246 46 Suffolk 1,364 89 831 71 1,086 71 1,772 73 Surrey 2,156 91 1,136 62 1,178 66 2,078 44 Sussex 3,062 90 1,745 65 2,692 64 3,820 53 Thames Valley 5,049 91 4,214 74 4,352 67 7,651 43 Warwickshire 584 91 505 69 553 66 1,129 52 West Mercia 1,685 91 1,344 77 1,039 74 1,342 56 West Midlands 4,640 76 6,111 53 5,609 55 8,293 39 West Yorkshire 3,717 70 4,123 71 4,388 73 6,183 64 Wiltshire 1,046 80 1,023 76 851 66 1,711 66 Dyfed-Powys 1,019 96 1,116 93 1,660 91 906 79 Gwent 1,262 96 1,292 91 1,479 92 1,095 72 North Wales 2,125 90 1,615 85 1,949 87 1,354 66 South Wales 2,955 92 2,923 83 3,339 74 3,819 43 Total 118,033 82 121,791 69 132,976 67 168,600 53 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Fraud and forgery offences _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1995 1996 1997 1998-99 Police force Offences Clear-up Offences Clear-up Offences Clear-up Offences Clear-up recorded rate (%) recorded rate (%) recorded rate (%) recorded rate (%) Avon and Somerset 4,017 45 4,293 49 3,584 44 9,950 39 Bedfordshire 1,781 37 2,033 49 1,799 41 4,114 27 Cambridgeshire 1,369 41 1,498 44 1,391 42 2,389 42 Cheshire 2,639 79 2,359 83 1,845 80 2,146 72 Cleveland 1,481 53 1,475 46 1,425 34 2,261 41 Cumbria 930 70 995 67 1,099 68 1,388 78 Derbyshire 1,399 46 1,355 44 1,308 48 4,200 48 Devon and Cornwall 2,674 57 2,374 59 2,232 59 7,064 47 Dorset 1,501 68 1,303 64 1,300 65 6,334 51 Durham 1,661 62 1,279 64 1,163 75 1,311 74 Essex 2,465 42 2,485 41 2,443 44 4,366 41 Gloucestershire 1,986 52 1,652 48 1,517 49 2,527 50 Greater Manchester 5,840 48 5,532 42 5,773 39 15,830 41 Hampshire 3,892 59 3,907 58 3,781 60 5,130 61 Hertfordshire 1,232 47 1,237 47 1,345 39 2,312 46 Humberside 2,966 52 2,610 44 2,316 55 3,582 54 Kent 3,627 44 3,155 54 2,932 47 5,687 42 Lancashire 3,484 77 3,446 73 3,412 70 4,446 63 Leciestershire 2,681 47 3,365 52 2,870 46 7,227 39 Lincolnshire 1,163 63 1,148 61 1,382 78 2,723 78 City of London 488 51 439 54 502 42 862 36 Merseyside 4,259 64 4,288 60 4,269 59 4,884 59 Metropolitan police district 32,838 46 38,983 45 42,687 41 80,541 15 Norfolk 1,345 62 1,251 62 1,045 74 2,488 63 Northamptonshire 1,217 61 1,246 63 1,266 76 4,425 39 Northumbria 2,606 43 2,109 44 2,221 46 4,991 58 North Yorkshire 1,032 55 1,052 58 980 55 2,563 67 Nottinghamshire 3,701 34 3,352 36 2,874 36 4,736 32 South Yorkshire 2,524 35 2,651 32 2,367 40 3,951 59 Staffordshire 1,905 46 2,004 50 2,200 55 3,830 44 Suffolk 1,243 70 1,333 69 1,116 74 2,099 49 Surrey 1,442 55 1,389 52 1,332 55 2,994 51 Sussex 2,763 57 2,815 56 2,994 54 7,790 25 Thames Valley 4,732 46 4,551 44 4,174 38 11,778 25 Warwickshire 901 51 975 51 898 51 2,401 38 West Mercia 1,739 50 1,894 44 1,881 39 3,961 57 West Midlands 7,624 27 6,365 33 4,844 44 15,675 31 West Yorkshire 4,818 55 5,071 55 5,244 55 10,608 45 Wiltshire 1,012 63 920 56 830 53 1,933 56 Dyfed-Powys 577 84 604 75 482 82 1,402 86 Gwent 933 71 1,305 64 1,415 65 2,395 67 North Wales 1,130 71 1,022 68 844 68 1,869 74 South Wales 3,399 33 3,105 38 3,016 36 6,340 44 Total 133,016 50 136,225 49 134,398 48 279,503 36 _________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

129129; 353 c302-4W;353 c302-3W

Session

1999-00

Subjects

Criminal investigation Costs Fraud Forgery Police Detection rates

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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