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4 Dec 2002 : Column 866W—continued

Burglary

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the monthly burglary rates in the areas covered by the street crime initiative in the last two years. [83668]

Mr. Denham: General recorded crime figures for the period from April 2002, the period of the street crime initiative, have yet to be collated. Details of domestic burglary figures for three-month periods up to March 2002, for the 10 police force areas involved in the street crime initiative, are given in the table.

Recorded crime: Number of domestic burglary offences recorded from April 2000 to March 2002, by quarter

Street crime initiative forces	April 2000 to June 2000	July 2000 to September 2000	October 2000 to December 2000	January 2001 to March 2001	April 2001 to June 2001	July 2001 to September 2001	October 2000 to December 2001	January 2002 to March 2002
Avon and Somerset	2,823	2,891	3,346	3,336	3,529	3,840	3,693	4,933
Greater Manchester	9,447	9,043	9,878	10,816	9,232	8,940	10,246	10,663
Lancashire	2,285	2,374	2,825	3,159	3,071	3,266	2,990	2,775
Merseyside	2,882	2,997	3,163	3,472	3,499	3,498	3,655	3,695
Metropolitan police	16,651	16,523	18,137	18,858	16,596	18,352	19,599	19,384
Nottinghamshire	3,032	2,801	3,191	3,236	2,923	3,420	3,638	4,352
South Yorkshire	3,827	3,185	3,526	4,150	3,482	3,607	4,326	4,773
Thames Valley	3,106	2,867	3,642	3,607	2,827	3,486	3,254	3,830
West Midlands	7,229	7,231	8,240	8,293	6,934	7,595	8,777	7,913
West Yorkshire	6,371	6,834	8,491	8,510	6,998	7,842	9,387	10,451
England and Wales total	95,204	93,656	105,666	108,457	95,970	104,486	112,875	117,029

National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS)

The Home Office counting rules have again been revised as from April 2002, in order to incorporate the new National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS), which aims to introduce a greater degree of consistency to the ways in which crime is recorded in different police forces and to take a more victim orientated approach to crime recording. The effect will be to increase significantly the number of crimes in the recorded crime count.

Avon and Somerset (from October 2000), Lancashire (from August 2000) and Greater Manchester (from January 2002) introduced the new standard in advance of national implementation, and the recorded crimes in these forces may be significantly affected. West Midlands adopted the Standard in April 1999, and hence the figures given will not be influenced by the Standard.

The other SCI forces adopted the Standard in April 2002.

Crime (Staffordshire)

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement on changes in crime rates in Staffordshire in the last 10 years; [84179]

(2) if he will make a statement on the rates of (a) burglary, (b) car crime and (c) street crime in Staffordshire in the last 10 years. [84180]

Mr. Denham: Details are given in the table. For car crime, total figures for theft of and theft from vehicles have been used. 'Street crime' is not a separate category in general recorded crime figures, which are based on legal definitions. Figures are given for all robbery, and robbery of personal property, the latter being collected separately from 1 April 1998.

Year(18)	All recorded crime	All burglary	Theft of and from vehicles	Robbery (personal and business property)	Robbery of personal property(19)
Number of recorded crimes in Staffordshire
1992	97,536	28,830	28,217	391	n/a
1993	98,421	30,091	27,611	414	n/a
1994	93,757	26,736	25,958	416	n/a
1995	91,495	24,838	23,745	500	n/a
1996	92,155	24,511	21,902	503	n/a
1997	89,957	23,518	20,596	498	n/a
1998–99(20)	91,919	20,391	19,464	509	428
1999–2000(21)	98,852	19,155	17,601	697	550
2000–01	104,705	17,106	16,071	796	633
2001–02	117,274	18,801	17,960	964	835
	Numbers of recorded crimes per 100,000 population in Staffordshire
1992	9,291	2,746	2,688	37	n/a
1993	9,357	2,861	2,625	39	n/a
1994	8,899	2,538	2,464	39	n/a
1995	8,677	2,355	2,252	47	n/a
1996	8,723	2,320	2,073	48	n/a
1997	8,521	2,228	1,951	47	n/a
1998–99(20)	8,669	1,923	1,836	48	40
1999–2000(21)	9,314	1,805	1,659	66	52
2000–01	9,872	1,613	1,515	75	60
2001–02	11,067	1,774	1,694	91	79

⁽¹⁸⁾ Figures are on a calendar year basis up to 1997, and years ending March thereafter.

⁽¹⁹⁾ Robbery of personal property has been collected separately since 1 April 1998.

⁽²⁰⁾ There was a change in the counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998, and hence figures before and after that date will not be directly comparable. However, apart from the total recorded crime figure, it is thought that the categories given would be relatively little affected by the change.

⁽²¹⁾ Staffordshire adopted the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in October 1999, in advance of its national implementation date of April 2002. The 1999–2000, 2000–01 and 2001–02 figures for the force will be affected by the Standard, although again, apart for the total recorded crime figure, the categories chosen are thought to be relatively little affected by the change

4 Dec 2002 : Column 867W

Criminal Justice

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether there will be restrictions on the types of previous convictions that could be mentioned during a trial under the new criminal justice reforms. [84399]

Hilary Benn [holding answer 2 December 2002]: The Criminal Justice Bill, introduced on 21 November 2002, will reform the law on admitting evidence of a person's bad character, and will enable evidence such as previous convictions to be used where they are relevant to the case. This will, however, be subject to a power for judges and magistrates to exclude this sort of evidence if admitting it would have an adverse effect on the fairness of a trial.

DCS Ellie Baker

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the reasons for the suspension of Detective Chief Superintendent Ellie Baker. [83182]

Mr. Denham: The West Midlands Police (WMP) inform me that the decision to suspend Detective Chief Superintendent Elaine Baker was taken after a member of the public made a complaint, which could result in her facing either a criminal conviction and/or a serious disciplinary sanction.

A full investigation of the allegations will be undertaken by the Metropolitan Police Service under the supervision of the Police Complaints Authority. It would therefore not be appropriate for me to make any further comment at this time.

Detection Rates

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on policies to improve crime detection rates. [82092]

Mr. Denham: The Police Standards Unit is currently working with a number of police forces to improve their crime detection rates. This will be achieved through a structured performance enhancement programme, utilising good practice guidance and supported through other existing policies.

Through the further development and structured implementation of the National Intelligence Model (NIM), police activity can be targeted more effectively

4 Dec 2002 : Column 868W

at both detecting and disrupting crime. This, coupled with the increased provision of analytical support, will provide the crime and disorder partnerships with the ability to detect crime and bring offenders to justice.

Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), which is being piloted in nine police forces, will have an impact on detecting crime and denying criminals the use of roads. Figures, after four weeks of the pilots, show 6,580 vehicles stopped; 480 arrests made; 59 stolen vehicles recovered; over £400,000 of stolen goods, vehicles and drugs recovered and £144,000 of vehicle excise duty evasion detected.

ANPR works by scanning vehicle registrations and checking them against information stored in databases to identify vehicles of interest to the police, such as stolen cars or those involved in crimes. When a suspicious vehicle is recognised it can be the focus of targeted interception and inquiries.

The Government have made available £182 million over a four year period to expand the National DNA Database. The Home Office, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Forensic Science Service are working together to maximise the benefits gained from the expenditure being made in the development and application of DNA and other forensic techniques.

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