---

Home Office

Answer

Mr. Tony Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the level of violent crime in Northampton was in each year since 1997. [186416] Ms Blears: Northampton is a Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) area. Data at CDRP level has only been collected from 1999-2000 onwards. Violent crime comprises violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery. In 2003-04, at least 52 per cent. of all recorded violence against the person involved no injury. The available information are given in the tables. Violent crime recorded by the police in Northampton 1999-2000 to 2001-02 1 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Period Number of offences 1999-2000 2,525 2000-01 2,656 2001-02 2,927 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 The date in this table is prior to the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for later years. Violent crime recorded by the police in Northampton 2002-03 to 2003-04 1 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Period Number of offences 2002-03 4,539 2003-04 5,451 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 The date in this table takes account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years. The British Crime Survey (BCS) also provides data on the level of violent crime in England and Wales. However, due to the variability of specific offence figures at police force area level, regional figures only are available. Data at regional level has been published as a rate per 10,000 adults since the 2001-02 BCS and are presented for the relevant region in the following table. Total BCS violence rate per 10,000 adults for the East Midlands Region _________________________________________________________________________________________________. BCS 2001-02 621 2002-03 578 2003-04 600 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Note: The apparent difference between rates in 2002-03 and in 2003-04 is not statistically significant Source: 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04 BCS interviews. Half of all violent incidents reported to the BCS during 2003-04 did not result in injury to the victim. However, this does not mean that public concern about violent crime is unjustified or that the ordeal of victims is not traumatic, even if injury has not occurred.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

425 c415-6W; 186416

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Crimes of violence Northampton

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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