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Criminal Law (Amendment) (Protection of Property) Bill

Earlier on, Opposition Members were talking about the incidence of burglary. We must examine the true facts and figures. Burglary peaked in the mid-1990s. According to the British crime survey, domestic burglary from 1995 to 2004–05 reduced by 57 per cent. In 2003–04 to 2004–05, British crime survey and police statistics showed that domestic burglary was down by 20 per cent., and that non-domestic burglary was down by 14 per cent. The risk of being a victim of burglary has halved since 1995. On average, the chance of a burglary on a particular property is at its lowest for 20 years. On average, a property is likely to be burgled once every 50 years. In my constituency, in July, there were 45 fewer residential burglaries than in the previous year, and there were 48 per cent. more detections. That picks up the point made earlier about detection rates. We need to challenge some of the perceptions about the likely victims of burglary. We have heard a great deal about rural people and so forth. The people most likely to be victims of burglary are those aged between 16 and 24. Those least likely to be victims are pensioners. The people most likely to be burgled are those with household incomes of below £5,000. Those least likely have incomes of more than £30,000. The most likely victims are those in private rented property, closely followed by social renters. The least likely are owner-occupiers. The most likely are those who are unemployed or economically inactive. The most likely are those who live in flats and not detached houses. The most likely are those who live in urban areas, who are twice as likely to be a victim as those who live in rural areas, particularly people living on council estates. It is probably self-evident that those with high levels of home security are the least likely to be burgled as opposed to those who have no measures of home security. That starts to correct some of the perceptions. We need to consider also the number of offences in which violence was used in a burglary. In all burglaries, that was about 9 per cent. The prospect of being a victim of violence when a burglary is committed is very low. To an extent, Opposition Members have run a scare story to try to pretend that we are living in a crime-ridden country. In fact, the incidence of burglary is low, and the chance of being a victim of violence during a burglary is extremely low.