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Children's Homes

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of missing children from children's homes have been investigated by the police since 1970; how many had led to the missing children being traced; and how many are currently under investigation. [129768]

Mr. Charles Clarke: There is no evidence of such information having been recorded or held centrally. The information could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost. However, we have accepted the recommendations of the Waterhouse Report which identified the need for the police and care homes to create a record of missing children. We will take forward the recommendations through an inter-agency review of best practice in conducting complex abuse investigations. A Review Group is being established to take forward this work,

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bringing together representatives from the Home Office, Department of Health, Local Government Association, Association of Directors of Social Services and the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Police Training College, Hendon

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers have attended training programmes at the Metropolitan Police training college at Hendon in the last 12 months. [129823]

Mr. Charles Clarke: In the 12 months ended 31 March 2000, 9,342 officers from the Metropolitan Police attended courses at the Peel Centre, Hendon.

The courses attended included probationer training, detective courses, driver and traffic training, dog training, firearms, computer and management courses.

Domestic Violence

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress in reducing the incidence of domestic violence in England. [129937]

Mr. Boateng: The Government have made available from the Crime Reduction Programme £7 million for projects addressing domestic violence and rape and sexual assault by known perpetrators. I was pleased to announce the successful bids on 10 July. Of these, 25, costing a total of £5.3 million, deal with aspects of domestic violence. We expect this major commitment to lead to more women reporting these offences and in the longer term to a significant fall in the actual number of offences being committed.

This initiative complements a range of Government measures to ensure that the problem of domestic violence is tackled effectively, including in the last four months new multi-agency guidance, a new resources manual for Health Service professionals and a new Home Office Circular to

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the police. Our other initiatives and commitments are set out in the joint Home Office/Women's Unit publication, "Living with Fear: an integrated approach to tackling violence against women", published in June 1999.

Crime/Police Manpower

Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent evidence he has collated on the correlation between the level of crime and (a) police numbers and (b) police funding. [129496]

Mr. Charles Clarke: In response to the intervention of the right hon. Member for Southwark, North and Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes) in the debate on the Crime Reduction Strategy on 29 November 1999, Official Report, columns 21-38, officials in my Research, Development and Statistics Directorate assembled information on changes in police numbers and recorded crime rates between (i) 1996-97 and 1998-99; and (ii) 1993-94 and 1998-99. The analysis is set out in Tables 1 and 2. Table 1 shows that 12 of the 21 top performing forces had falls in police numbers over the last two years, whereas in the other group of 22 forces, 14 had falls. At the individual force level, however, there seems little obvious statistical link between performance and police numbers. Table 2 shows that, over five years, there is little difference in the number of forces with falls in numbers in the top 21 forces and the bottom 22. Again, though, there is a very mixed picture overall, with the statistical relationship between police numbers and changes in crime over this period weak.

Other analysis by the Research, Development and Statistics Directorate around the same time also looked at the correlation at police force level between the changes in numbers of crimes, police numbers and police funding. The results are in Table 1. They show no association that carries much statistical weight when comparing forces. The strongest association is between increasing budgets leading to increasing officers.

Historic figures on overall police numbers in England and Wales and the total number of recorded crimes are in the Library.

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Table 1: Percentage change in recorded crime rates 1996-97 to 1998-99 and percentage change in police numbers

Number offences per 100,000 population Police numbers
1996-971998-99Percentage changePercentage changeFall/rise
1 Kent9,1407,040-23-1.8Fall 1
2 Gwent10,4778,508-190.3Rise
3 Gloucestershire9,5837,867-18-2.5Fall 2
4 Lincolnshire7,7966,412-18-4.8Fall 3
5 Northumbria11,2019,271-174.4Rise
6 West Mercia7,3676,166-16-0.8Fall 4
7 South Yorkshire11,2489,538-150.3Rise
8 Hampshire7,6666,525-150.6Rise
9 Bedfordshire9,3417,957-15-4.8Fall 5
10 Cleveland13,35811,465-14-3.0Fall 6
11 Lancashire8,5857,379-14-0.1Fall 7
12 Cambridgeshire9,7138,379-14-2.1Fall 8
13 Avon and Somerset10,3238,926-140.4Rise
14 Surrey5,3554,638-132.6Rise
15 Devon and Cornwall6,5735,703-130.8Rise
16 Hertfordshire6,1105,307-13-2.0Fall 9
17 Essex6,5785,722-13-2.4Fall 10
18 Durham8,3267,262-137.4Rise
19 North Wales6,3755,575-131.6Rise
20 Nottinghamshire13,57511,983-12-4.2Fall 11
21 North Yorkshire7,3416,558-11-0.1Fall 12
22 Metropolitan Police District11,26410,084-10-2.3Fall 1
23 Dorset7,0986,386-10-0.4Fall 2
24 Suffolk5,7095,143-100.9Rise
25 Norfolk7,2496,534-10-3.5Fall 3
26 Leicestershire9,7388,796-102.3Rise
27 West Midlands11,59710,511-92.9Rise
28 Staffordshire8,7737,969-91.2Rise
29 Cheshire6,6576,050-91.2Rise
30 Cumbria7,8527,147-9-1.5Fall 4
31 Warwickshire7,6667,081-8-2.0Fall 5
32 Wiltshire5,9435,503-7-0.3Fall 6
33 Sussex8,0927,494-7-7.7Fall 7
34 Dyfed-Powys3,9673,737-62.2Rise
35 Thames Valley8,2247,750-61.4Rise
36 Merseyside9,7579,240-5-0.5Fall 8
37 West Yorkshire12,31111,679-5-4.4Fall 9
38 Derbyshire8,0727,670-5-1.8Fall 10
39 South Wales10,0999,780-30.2Rise
40 Humberside13,80113,483-2-3.4Fall 11
41 Northamptonshire9,1789,1500-3.3Fall 12
42 Greater Manchester12,43713,0715-1.6Fall 13
43 City of London91,405115,28226-9.4Fall 14
England and Wales9,5158,584-10-1.0--

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Changes between 1996-97 and 1998-99

Number offences per 100,000 population Police numbers
1996-971998-99Percentage changePercentage changeFall/rise
Top 21 forces8,7907,464-15-0.2-88
Average-15-0.5-4
Bottom 21 forces10,0159,363-7-1.4-1,122
Average-5-1.4-51

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Table 2: Percentage change in recorded crime rates 1993-94 and percentage change in police numbers

Number offences per 100,000 population Police numbers
1993-941998-99Percentage changePercentage changeFall/rise
1 Northumbria14,6589,271-376.7Rise
2 Durham11,0247,262-3413.4Rise
3 Kent10,3467,040-321.8Rise
4 Gloucestershire11,5197,867-32-4.7Fall 1
5 Surrey6,6444,638-30-0.4Fall 2
6 Devon and Cornwall7,8765,703-28-0.9Fall 3
7 Dyfed-Powys5,0823,737-266.3Rise
8 Cheshire8,1806,050-268.9Rise
9 Bedfordshire10,7507,957-26-9.5Fall 4
10 Avon and Somerset11,8538,926-25-1.1Fall 5
11 Lincolnshire8,4516,412-24-5.4Fall 6
12 Essex7,5045,722-24-1.6Fall 7
13 Hampshire8,4206,525-236.2Rise
14 Warwickshire9,1317,081-22-13.2Fall 8
15 Nottinghamshire15,40611,983-22-4.4Fall 9
16 Wiltshire7,0225,503-22-8.9Fall 10
17 Suffolk6,5475,143-21-1.5Fall 11
18 South Yorkshire12,1339,538-214.8Rise
19 Thames Valley9,8437,750-21-4.1Fall 12
20 North Wales7,0795,575-212.9Rise
21 South Wales12,3269,780-21-4.8Fall 13
22 Lancashire9,2407,379-202.4Rise
23 Norfolk8,1426,534-20-4.5Fall 1
24 Derbyshire9,4797,670-19-3.4Fall 2
25 North Yorkshire8,0986,558-191.4Rise
26 Leicestershire10,8548,796-199.2Rise
27 Cleveland14,13011,465-19-0.9Fall 3
28 Dorset7,8706,386-19-1.4Fall 4
29 Hertfordshire6,5245,307-192.5Rise
30 West Yorkshire14,27611,679-18-1.3Fall 5
31 Cumbria8,6707,147-18-4.1Fall 6
32 City of London139,333115,282-17-12.9Fall 7
33 Metropolitan Police District12,12310,084-17-5.9Fall 8
34 West Mercia7,4096,166-17-1.7Fall 9
35 West Midlands12,41610,511-154.4Rise
36 Humberside15,83913,483-15-3.2Fall 10
37 Staffordshire9,2937,969-141.3Rise
38 Cambridgeshire9,4178,379-110.9Rise
39 Northamptonshire9,9439,150-8-2.8Fall 11
40 Greater Manchester13,80413,071-5-2.3Fall 12
41 Merseyside9,7359,240-5-10.3Fall 13
42 Gwent8,8158,508-325.6Rise
43 Sussex7,5627,494-1-5.4Fall 14
England and Wales10,6058,584-19-1.6--

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Changes between 1993-94 and 1998-99

Number offences per 100,000 population Police numbers
1993-941998-99Percentage changePercentage changeFall/rise
Top 21 forces9,9697,464-250.274
Average-26-0.54
Bottom 21 forces11,0709,363-15-2.5-2,039
Average-14-0.6-93

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Table 3: Forces ranked by percentage change in (a) number of recorded notifiable offences; (b) number of police officers, and (3) police force budgets: 1993-94 to 1998-99

Rank of crime decrease(11)Rank of change in police numbers increase(11)Rank of change in budget increase(11)Percentage change CrimeNumbersBudget
Northumbria1510-37.36.728.3
Durham222-34.013.435.1
Kent31316-30.71.825.3
Gloucestershire43425-29.4-4.723.7
Surrey51737-28.9-0.420.5
Devon and Cornwall61836-26.1-0.921.5
South Wales73533-25.9-4.821.9
Dyfed-Powys8621-25.36.324.3
Cheshire943-24.98.933.1
Bedfordshire104011-23.8-9.528.1
Avon and Somerset112020-22.7-1.124.6
Essex122428-21.7-1.623.2
Nottinghamshire133214-21.7-4.426.4
South Yorkshire1488-21.44.829.9
Lincolnshire153731-21.3-5.422.7
North Wales161015-21.02.925.5
Warwickshire174343-20.6-13.212.6
Hampshire1877-20.36.230.1
Lancashire191219-19.52.424.9
Cleveland201922-19.5-0.924.1
Suffolk212340-19.2-1.518.6
Wiltshire223930-18.9-8.922.9
Norfolk23339-17.6-4.528.5
West Yorkshire242124-17.5-1.323.7
Derbyshire252912-17.5-3.427.8
Thames Valley263129-17.5-4.123.1
North Yorkshire271438-17.41.419.2
Cumbria283034-17.2-4.121.9
Leicestershire2936-16.69.231.3
Hertfordshire30115-16.22.532.2
Dorset312223-16.0-1.423.8
West Midlands32918-15.34.425.0
West Mercia332527-15.0-1.723.5
Humberside342826-14.6-3.223.7
Metropolitan Police District353842-14.3-5.914.5
Staffordshire361513-13.61.326.5
Merseyside374141-7.2-10.318.1
Cambridgeshire381617-6.50.925.0
Greater Manchester392632-5.4-2.322.0
Northamptonshire402735-4.8-2.821.8
Sussex413642.9-5.432.8
City of London42423912.0-12.919.1
Gwent431119.625.659.4
England and Wales-------17.6-1.622.3

(11) 1 = biggest

Notes:

1. Budgets:

1992-93 CIPFA Police Statistics Actuals

1998-99 CIPFA Police Statistics Estimates (estimates of net expenditure)

Budgets are in cash terms, not real terms

2. Police numbers:

Do not include secondments

3. Crimes:

Based on old counting rules for both years

Relate to numbers of crimes recorded, not per capita rates

Gwent is an outlier because of boundary changes with South Wales


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13 Jul 2000 : Column: 671W


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