Select Committee on Transport Minutes of Evidence


Supplementary memorandum submitted by the Department for Transport

  In the course of giving evidence to the Committee on 19 April, I promised to write with further details on a number of points. Two are items that I can deal with immediately. On the others, I shall write again as soon as the information is available. Taking them in order :—

    —  The new South West franchise: I explained that the new franchise will require the operator to gain Secure Station Scheme accreditation for enough stations to account for 80% of the total franchise footfall. Mr Martlew asked what percentage is already covered in this way. The answer is 67%;

    —  Crimes against the person: Mr Stringer asked about statistics on crimes against the person. The figures are set out in the attached table;

    —  The new post being created in the Department's Rail Group to co-ordinate policy on stations: the detailed job description for the post is in the process of being drawn up and will be ready shortly. I will make sure that a copy is sent to the Committee Clerk as soon as it is available;

    —  Results of research into crime at stations: I explained that it will be later this year before the preliminary results from this research are available. Again, I will make sure that the results are sent to the Committee as soon as possible.
BTP Area1998-99 1999-20002000-01 2001-022002-03 2003-042004-05
London North659742 8099201,126 1,3341,632
London South1,8492,160 2,1071,8372,265 2,3502,509
London Underground1,456 1,5751,4711,424 1,8802,2952,622
North Eastern243204 285306495 605625
Scottish345396 348406545 631617
North Western466551 526604654 787786
Western388461 497594691 725957
Force Total5,4066,089 6,0436,0917,656 8,7279,748


Notes

  Crime at stations is not recorded separately. The figures in the table therefore cover all relevant crimes in the relevant category reported to the BTP. For the purposes of the table, "crimes against the person" are defined as violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery.

  A change in counting rules occurred in 1998. This was built upon by changes in the National Crime Recording Standards (NCRS) in 2002, introduced by the Home Office. All police forces in England and Wales were required to adopt the NCRS. It had the effect of increasing the number of recorded crimes by an average of 22% in all forces in England and Wales. BTP adopted this standard on 1 April 2002. The principle of NCRS is that if, on the balance of probability, a crime has been committed it is recorded as a crime. The standard has made crime recording more victim-focused.


 
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