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Crimes

Mr. Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes were recorded in each borough by the Metropolitan police within each category of crime in 1995; how many incidents of theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle and of theft from a motor vehicle were recorded in each borough; how many of the burglaries recorded in each borough were in a dwelling; and how many were in another building. [22701]

Mr. Maclean [holding answer 27 March 1996]: I will write to the hon. Member.

Mr. Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes were recorded by each police force in England and Wales within each category of crime in 1995; how many incidents of theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle and of theft from a motor vehicle were recorded by each force; how many of the burglaries recorded by each police force in England and Wales in 1995 were in a dwelling; and how many were in another building. [22700]

Mr. Maclean [holding answer 27 March 1996]: The information requested is contained in the following table.

28 Mar 1996 : Column: 685

Notifiable offences recorded by the police by malice force area and offence groupEngland and Wales 1995Number of offences

Police force area	Total	Violence against the person	Sexual offences	Robbery	Burglary	Theft and handling stolen goods	Fraud and forgery
Avon and Somerset	152,885	7,643	1,026	1,582	34,111	82,456	4,017
Bedfordshire	51,104	1,911	294	664	11,026	27,285	1,781
Cambridgeshire	67,652	2,755	430	352	14,267	38,290	1,369
Cheshire	73,202	3,487	574	316	18,155	34,326	2,639
Cleveland	79,719	2,961	279	487	23,536	36,488	1,481
Cumbria	41,230	2,411	228	96	9,422	19,530	930
Derbyshire	82,380	3,971	550	398	19,875	39,658	1,399
Devon and Cornwall	102,193	4,709	792	444	26,400	51,651	2,674
Dorset	54,582	2,158	331	205	12,347	29,026	1,501
Durham	57,817	2,030	373	164	15,463	25,515	1,661
Essex	98,097	4,488	692	361	19,804	51,077	2,465
Gloucestershire	55,448	1,885	324	299	13,872	30,010	1,986
Greater Manchester	327,994	9,033	1,279	5,714	85,848	149,454	5,840
Hampshire	134,319	5,969	1,049	485	24,726	71,788	3,892
Hertfordshire	55,891	2,039	281	281	11,318	29,894	1,232
Humberside	128,393	5,804	781	680	39,113	59,072	2,966
Kent	155,251	7,444	994	779	33,865	77,488	3,627
Lancashire	124,921	3,467	580	759	29,845	59,028	3,484
Leicestershire	93,607	5,138	538	1,244	25,487	44,520	2,681
Lincolnshire	48,015	2,514	367	128	12,243	22,774	1,163
City of London	5,727	126	17	32	712	3,924	488
Merseyside	153,385	8,098	937	2,768	34,497	74,797	4,259
Metropolitan Police	840,478	43,714	6,652	29,859	176,213	389,772	34,139
Norfolk	51,716	1,955	315	193	13,097	26,420	1,345
Northamptonshire	56,524	2,672	308	332	14,004	26,390	1,217
Northumbria	194,141	5,735	556	1,581	52,870	78,837	2,606
North Yorkshire	63,539	2,133	247	167	16,641	31,574	1,032
Nottinghamshire	151,371	8,107	970	1,513	37,932	65,095	3,701
South Yorkshire	154,293	4,909	600	1,164	45,504	71,230	2,524
Staffordshire	91,496	6,471	563	500	24,838	41,470	1,905
Suffolk	38,234	2,051	357	129	7,114	19,282	1,243
Surrey	44,313	2,288	397	198	9,175	22,821	1,442
Sussex	110,300	4,441	738	608	23,224	56,376	2,763
Thames Valley	178,702	6,167	762	1,319	38,748	98,074	4,732
Warwickshire	38,906	1,258	214	174	9,302	20,277	901
West Mercia	80,013	3,222	467	289	15,075	42,975	1,739
West Midlands	318,087	8,621	1,245	7,872	89,941	148,736	7,624
West Yorkshire	283,938	8,358	1,416	3,344	90,130	128,196	4,818
Wiltshire	36,428	2,173	368	137	8,092	17,852	1,012
Dyfed Powys	19,419	1,952	256	26	3,515	8,103	577
Gwent	33,034	2,549	309	133	6,517	15,949	933
North Wales	41,645	2,258	347	94	9,352	19,665	1,130
South Wales	153,249	6,460	587	537	36,941	72,471	3,399
England and Wales	5,123,638	217,535	30,390	68,407	1,244,157	2,459,616	134,317

28 Mar 1996 : Column: 687

England and Wales 1995Number of offences

Police force area	Criminal damage	Other offences	Theft of vehicle	Theft from vehicle	Burglary in a dwelling	Burglary in another building
Avon and Somerset	21,097	953	16,599	31,573	16,878	17,233
Bedfordshire	7,670	473	6,141	10,745	5,078	5,948
Cambridgeshire	9,742	447	7,307	12,796	6,347	7,920
Cheshire	12,150	1,555	6,739	11,438	8,545	9,610
Cleveland	13,748	739	9,897	11,654	12,438	11,098
Cumbria	8,231	382	2,387	6,831	4,142	5,280
Derbyshire	15,721	808	9,483	14,164	8,183	11,692
Devon and Cornwall	14,177	1,346	5,916	20,123	13,235	13,165
Dorset	8,368	646	3,670	10,191	6,685	5,662
Durham	11,767	844	6,780	7,779	7,344	8,119
Essex	18,286	924	8,625	16,472	8,151	11,653
Gloucestershire	6,396	676	3,921	12,411	7,127	6,745
Greater Manchester	68,019	2,807	45,507	50,372	51,724	34,124
Hampshire	24,773	1,637	8,471	25,097	10,916	13,810
Hertfordshire	10,378	468	5,495	12,989	4,242	7,076
Humberside	19,284	693	11,327	18,059	17,518	21,595
Kent	29,523	1,531	16,450	25,163	15,089	18,776
Lancashire	26,340	1,418	9,258	22,449	17,603	12,242
Leicestershire	13,365	634	9,554	15,874	13,790	11,697
Lincolnshire	8,138	688	3,538	5,661	5,311	6,932
City of London	301	127	105	677	43	669
Merseyside	25,855	2,174	18,230	18,678	21,665	12,832
Metropolitan Police	149,500	10,629	59,946	113,241	108,128	68,085
Norfolk	7,778	613	3,378	8,435	5,386	7,711
Northamptonshire	11,003	598	6,134	8,752	6,826	7,178
Northumbria	50,913	1,043	21,260	22,387	25,920	26,950
North Yorkshire	11,317	428	5,260	10,364	7,080	9,561
Nottinghamshire	33,181	872	16,480	18,679	19,951	17,981
South Yorkshire	27,114	1,248	20,940	24,217	22,235	23,269
Staffordshire	15,121	628	8,775	14,970	12,090	12,748
Suffolk	7,359	699	2,145	5,348	2,865	4,249
Surrey	7,334	658	2,817	8,303	4,002	5,173
Sussex	20,747	1,403	6,763	19,263	12,493	10,731
Thames Valley	27,266	1,634	18,438	39,336	19,619	19,129
Warwickshire	6,422	358	4,150	7,330	3,908	5,394
West Mercia	15,479	767	6,752	14,804	6,815	8,260
West Midlands	52,163	1,885	45,102	50,494	46,368	43,573
West Yorkshire	44,805	2,871	33,887	42,919	54,921	35,209
Wiltshire	6,288	506	2,159	5,890	3,816	4,276
Dyfed-Powys	4,403	587	1,015	2,072	1,278	2,237
Gwent	5,895	749	3,194	4,809	2,903	3,614
North Wales	8,176	623	2,406	7,014	3,155	6,197
South Wales	31,390	1,464	22,703	24,575	14,859	22,082
England and Wales	916,983	52,233	509,104	814,398	646,672	597,485

28 Mar 1996 : Column: 689

28 Mar 1996 : Column: 689

DEFENCE

Greenwich Hospital

Mr. Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to receive advice from the special panel he constituted to consider the future of Greenwich hospital. [23540]

Mr. Portillo: In answer to the hon. Member for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (Mr. Clifton-Brown) on 19 December, Official Report, column 1107, I announced that I had invited a group of distinguished experts to advise me on the expressions of interest in, and on the future use and management of, the Royal Naval college, Greenwich, which I hold for the benefit of the Crown charity, Greenwich hospital.

The advisory group has submitted its interim report. I am most grateful to its members for the way in which they have addressed the issues so far. I am placing in the Libraries of both Houses copies of the report, amended only to protect matters of commercial confidentiality.

Much detailed work remains to be done to secure the future of the site, but, with the support of my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for National Heritage and for the Environment--the latter as Minister with responsibility for London--I am pleased to be able to announce that I have accepted the central recommendations of the advisory group that, in the event of non-defence occupancy of the Royal Naval college:

the head lease on the site should go to an independent trust charged with preserving its architectural and historic integrity, with the proper maintenance of the buildings and with ensuring public access. Such a trust would need to have regard also to the wider site for which the Government intend to secure world heritage status from UNESCO. I would also expect it to pay particular regard to the College's historical associations with the Royal Navy. I have invited the advisory group to give further consideration to the issues which will need to be resolved to enable such a trust to be established.

28 Mar 1996 : Column: 690

On the information provided so far, the university of Greenwich appears to be the most appropriate contender to be the main occupant of the site, with the national maritime museum enjoying the use of certain parts. We shall be inviting those organisations to refine their proposals for occupation of the Royal Naval college.

I have also accepted the recommendation that the Trafalgar quarters, currently occupied by the staff colleges, should be converted by Greenwich hospital to provide sheltered accommodation for retired seafarers and their wives or widows. It seems particularly appropriate that a part of the site should be applied to one of the central purposes in the Crown charity's founding charter of 1694.

To carry forward the recommendations in the report, new powers are required and I shall seek them in the Armed Forces Bill. The Minister of State for the Armed Forces has advised the Select Committee considering the Bill of my intention to table an amendment, whereby I can be empowered to balance the wider interests of the heritage of the site with my responsibilities towards Greenwich hospital.

I am grateful to those organisations and individuals who have contributed to the debate so far on the future of the Royal Naval college. I am conscious that my announcement will be a disappointment to some who indicated an expression of interest, but whose proposal will not be considered further.

The Government are determined that the future use of the Royal Naval college should be one worthy of the magnificent site, and in the best interests of the Greenwich hospital and the nation.

I will keep the House informed of developments.

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