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Home Office

Answer

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of (a) racially aggravated offences, (b) violent crime, (c) robbery of personal property and (d) drug offences were recorded in (i) Lancashire and (ii) the North West of England in (A) 1997, (B) 1998, (C) 1999, (D) 2000 and (E) 2001. [82373] Mr. Denham: The requested statistics are given in the following table. On 1 April 1998, there was a change in the counting rules for recorded crime, and an expansion of the offences covered. This resulted in an increase of crimes recorded by the police. Recorded crime figures before this date will therefore not be directly comparable. As Lancashire, Cumbria and Greater Manchester police forces implemented the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in advance of its national implementation in April 2002, the recorded crime figures for these areas cannot be directly compared with those for previous years. The affects of the Standard are explained in table footnote 4. Recorded crime: number of offences recorded from 1997 to 2001/02 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Police force area/ 19971 1997-982 1998-993 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-024 offence Lancashire Total racially -- -- -- 232 408 1,057 aggravated offences5 Total violent crime6 5,550 5,718 12,183 11,615 13,870 18,535 Robbery of personal -- -- 816 866 1,044 1,437 property7 Drug offences8 554 529 4,117 3,135 3,124 3,169 North West Region9 Total racially -- -- -- 1,284 2,053 4,746 aggravated offences5 Total violent crime6 46,224 50,503 87,033 93,029 95,940 106,892 Robbery of personal -- -- 9,338 10,425 11,614 13,656 property7 Drug offences8 3,156 3,164 19,267 16,106 15,070 14,775 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Recorded on a calendar year basis. 2 The number of crimes recorded in that financial year using the coverage and rules in use until 31 March 1998. 3 The number of crimes recorded in that financial year using the expanded offence coverage and revised counting rules which came into effect on 1 April 1998. 4 Cumbria, Greater Manchester and Lancashire implemented the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in advance of the national implementation date of April 2002. The 2000-01 and 2001-02 figures for these forces will be affected by the Standard. The NCRS and other changes to police recording practices, has had the estimated effect of increasing recorded crime statistics by at least 5 per cent. for 2001-02, which means the real increase of total recorded crime for 2001-02 is 2 per cent. compared to the published national total of 7 per cent. The impact will vary for different types of offence. 5 Racially aggravated offences became notifiable to the police on 1 April 1999. The offences covered are; other wounding, harassment, common assault, criminal damage to a dwelling, criminal damage to a building other than a dwelling, criminal damage to a vehicle and other criminal damage. 6 Violent crime is comprised of violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery. 7 Robbery of personal property was recorded separately (from total robbery) as from 1 April 1998. 8 Up until 1 April 1998, Trafficking in controlled drugs was the only drugs-related offence recorded. After this date the offence coverage was expanded to include more drugs-related offences. 9 The North West Region comprises the following police forces; Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

395 c370W; 82373

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Crime Crimes of violence Drugs Racially aggravated offences Lancashire Robbery North West Mugging

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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