The Coalition Government has hailed the latest quarterly Office for National Statistics (ONS) stats that show that crime is continuing to fall in England and Wales.
Both the independent Crime Survey for England and Wales and police recorded crime statistics showed that there has been a drop of more than 10 per cent since 2010, when the Coalition came to office. Crime is now claimed to be at its lowest level since the crime survey began in 1981.
The survey showed a 22pc fall in violence in the year ending December 2013 compared with the previous year. Vandalism and criminal damage are down 15pc and other household theft has dropped by 25pc. However Home Office ministers did not comment on crimes of fraud; in the year ending December 2013, 207,252 fraud offences were recorded by the police and Action Fraud based on reports from the public. This represents a volume increase of 25pc compared with the previous year. This rise should be seen, say the statisicians in the context of a move towards improved recording of fraud following a move to centralised recording by the police. In addition, there were 309,880 reports of fraud to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau from industry bodies.
Crime Prevention Minister and Lib Dem MP Norman Baker said: “Under this coalition government, overall crime is down by more than 10pc according to both the independent Crime Survey and police recorded crime. Today’s statistics are more good news and the evidence is clear: police reform is working and crime is falling.”
As for the quality of the crime figures; on that point MP Norman Baker said: “We can have confidence that England and Wales are safer than they have been for decades, with crime at its lowest level since the survey began in 1981. The government has a strong record on reinforcing the independence and accountability of the statistics. We asked HMIC last June to carry out an audit of the quality of crime recording in every police force, and the Home Secretary has written to chief constables emphasising that the police must ensure that crimes are recorded accurately and honestly.”
The UK Statistics Authority reported recently that the statistics based on police recorded crime data were found not to meet the required standard for designation as National Statistics.
Latest figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimate there were 7.5 million crimes against households and resident adults in the previous 12 months, based on interviews with a nationally representative sample in the year ending December 2013. This was down 15pc compared with the previous year’s survey. However, there are signs of increasing upward pressures in some offence types in the police recorded crime data; for example, shoplifting continued to increase (by 6pc in the year ending December 2013).
