Written question asked by Tim Loughton (Conservative) on Monday, 10 March 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 21 March 2003. It was answered by Bob Ainsworth (Labour) on Friday, 21 March 2003 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has to create a new, separate classification of distraction burglary for the purposes of recording crime statistics. - Includes agreed definition of distraction burglary.

Answer: Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to create a new, separate classification of distraction burglary for the purposes of recording crime statistics. [102735] Mr. Bob Ainsworth: With effect from 1 April 2003, we will be collecting centrally from police forces numbers of offences of distraction burglary. These will be recorded as a sub-group of the domestic burglary category and published in the recorded crime statistics. The definition of distraction burglary we have agreed is: "Any crime where a falsehood, trick or distraction is used on an occupant of a dwelling to gain, or try to gain, access to the premises to commit burglary."

Secondary information