Statistical bulletin: Crime in England and Wales, Quarterly First Release to December 2011

Key points

• The latest figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW; formerly known as the British Crime Survey) show no statistically significant change in overall crime while the number of crimes recorded by the police fell by 3 per cent in the year ending December 2011 compared with the same period in 2010. These findings continue recent trends with CSEW crime remaining fairly flat since 2004/05 and recorded crime showing small year on year reductions.
• While there has not been a rise in overall crime from either source, there have been increases in some sub-categories. The police recorded a 5 per cent increase in the other theft group (driven by theft of unattended property, theft from the person and bicycle theft) and a 3 per cent increase in robbery. The rise in other theft reflected increases across many forces in England and Wales whereas the rise in robbery was driven by a rise in the Metropolitan police force area.
• Generally, other categories of acquisitive crime have not shown increases. Police recorded crime figures showed a fall of 3 per cent in domestic burglaries compared with the previous year and no change in other burglaries, while the fairly flat trend seen in burglary measured by the CSEW since 2005 has continued, with a non-statistically significant change year on year. The number of offences against vehicles recorded by the police continues to fall while estimates of vehicle-related theft from the CSEW show no statistically significant change.
• Levels of violent crime estimated by the CSEW showed no statistically significant change compared with the previous year. Police recorded violence against the person fell by 7 per cent, with similar falls in both violence with and without injury.
• Both series showed continued year on year falls in vandalism offences: the CSEW showed a 14 per cent fall in vandalism while the police recorded 9 per cent fewer criminal damage offences.

Introduction

In 2011 the Home Secretary accepted a recommendation from the National Statistician that future responsibility for the publication of crime statistics for England and Wales should transfer from the Home Office to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) from 1 April 2012. This release represents the first such publication from the ONS. To provide continuity for users of these statistics, the same outputs previously produced by the Home Office are provided with this initial release. However, changes are planned for future releases and details will be made available to users for comment in due course.

This quarterly release presents the most recent crime statistics from two different sources: the Crime Survey for England and Wales (previously known as the British Crime Survey), and police recorded crime. By presenting findings from the two series together we aim to present a fuller picture of crime in England and Wales. This series of first releases focuses on the latest figures and medium-term trends. Further discussion of long-term trends can be found in ‘Crime in England and Wales 2010/11’ (Chaplin et al., 2011). For detailed information about the statistical sources used here, refer to the User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales (ONS, 2012)¹.

The CSEW is a face-to-face survey in which people resident in households in England and Wales are asked about their experiences of crime in the 12 months prior to the interview. For the crime types and population groups it covers, the CSEW provides a more reliable measure of trends in crime than police recorded crime statistics, as it has a consistent methodology and is unaffected by changes in levels of reporting to the police, recording practice or police activity. The survey does not aim to provide an absolute count of crime in England and Wales, but to provide robust trends for the crime types and population it covers². It also gives better coverage of crimes that tend to go unreported, such as theft from the person and vandalism³.

Recorded crime figures relate to crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales in the 12 months to December 2011. Unlike the CSEW, they do not include crimes that have not been reported to the police or those that the police decide not to record, but they do cover crimes against those aged under 16, organisations such as businesses, and crimes ‘against the state’ ie with no immediate victim, for example, possession of drugs.  For more details on the differences between the two sources, please see the Further Information section.

Notes

1. This User Guide is the standard source of information on both police recorded crime figures and the CSEW.

2. CSEW interviews are not conducted with people living in communal establishments such as prisons or old peoples’ homes. Estimates presented in this first release, however are adjusted to cover all people, not just those living in households. 

3. For more information on reporting rates, see Chaplin et al., 2011     

Summary

This bulletin contains findings from police recorded crime figures and the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), formerly known as the British Crime Survey. Based on interviews in the year ending December 2011, there was no statistically significant change in the estimated total of crimes compared with the 2010 survey. The number of crimes recorded by the police fell by 3 per cent in the year ending December 2011 compared with the same period in 2010.

The CSEW showed a statistically significant decrease of 5 per cent in crimes against households in the 2011 survey compared to 2010. The apparent increase of 8 per cent in the number of offences against adults (personal crime) was not statistically significant; although the increase in the proportion who were victims of personal crime (from 5.5 to 6.0 per cent) was significant.

While there has not been a general rise in acquisitive crime from either source since 2005, there is evidence of increases in some specific sub-categories, such as a 5 per cent increase in the other theft group of police recorded offences (driven by theft of unattended property, theft from the person and bicycle theft) in 2011 compared with 2010. The CSEW also shows a 13 per cent increase in personal acquisitive crime (which includes crimes such as pick-pocketing and theft of unattended property) based on interviews from 2011 compared with 2010. The number of offences against vehicles recorded by the police continues to fall while estimates of vehicle-related theft from the CSEW show no statistically significant change.

The fairly flat trend seen in burglary measured by the CSEW since 2005 has continued, with a non-statistically significant increase of 1 per cent in the estimate of domestic burglaries in 2011. Police recorded crime figures showed a fall of 3 per cent in domestic burglaries compared with the previous year; but no change in the number of other burglaries.

Police recorded robbery offences increased by 3 per cent, driven by a rise in the Metropolitan police force area.

Levels of violent crime estimated by the CSEW showed no statistically significant change in 2011 compared with the previous year, or with any year since 2005. Police recorded violence against the person fell by 7 per cent in 2011, with similar falls in violence with and without injury.

Both series showed falls in vandalism offences. From data collected in the year ending December 2011, vandalism measured by the CSEW decreased by 14 per cent. Police recorded criminal damage offences decreased by 9 per cent.

Levels of crime: tables and charts

The following charts and tables show offences measured by either the CSEW or police recorded crime. The ‘Levels of crime: overall’ section discusses the overall patterns in crime, while the ‘Levels of crime: by offence’ section comments on specific types of offences.

 

Figure 1 Percentage change in CSEW crime based on interviews in the year to December 2011 compared with the previous year

England and Wales

Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

Notes:

1. Changes in figure 1 which are statistically significant at the 5 per cent level are indicated by a fully shaded bar. Other apparent changes are not statistically significant at the 5 per cent level. Statistical significance for the change in all CSEW crime cannot be calculated in the same way as for other CSEW figures (a method based on approximation is used). See Section 8 of the User Guide (ONS, 2012) for more information on statistical significance.

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Figure 2 Percentage change in numbers of recorded crimes in the year to December 2011 compared with the previous year

England and Wales

Notes:

1. Source: Police Recorded Crime - Home Office

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Levels of crime: overall

Table 1 shows that there was no statistically significant¹ change in the level of CSEW crime, based on interviews in the year to December 2011 compared with 2010. Table 2 shows that the overall level of notifiable² crime recorded by the police, however, decreased by 3 per cent in 2011 compared with the previous year. These latest figures represent a continuation of recent trends with overall crime measured by the survey remaining fairly flat since 2004/05 while the police recorded crime continues to show small year on year reductions which have been evident in recent years.

Police recorded crime figures in the publication include the month of August 2011 when there were disturbances in a number of urban areas in England. At the national level the impact on police recorded figures was small³.

The CSEW provides separate estimates for crimes against people and crimes against households. Table 1 shows that CSEW estimates from interviews in the year to December 2011 show a decrease of 5 per cent in crimes against households, compared with the previous year. Table 3 shows that, based on interviews in that period, 16 per cent of households were a victim of one or more household crimes, a similar level to the previous year. Figure B6 (in Annex B) shows that there has been a modest downward trend in household crime since 2006. Both the recent and medium term reduction in household crime has been driven by reductions in vandalism.

The overall estimate of CSEW personal crime showed an apparent increase (8 per cent) which was not statistically significant on the figure for the previous year. Table 3 shows that an estimated 6 per cent of all adults (aged 16 or over) were victims of one or more CSEW personal crimes (up from 5.5 per cent in the previous year- a statistically significant increase). The medium-term trend is fairly flat and the estimated number of personal crime incidents, at 3.8 million, was broadly similar to levels seen in 2007 (Annex B, figure B10).

Notes for Levels of crime: overall

1. See Section 8 of the User Guide for more information on statistical significance.
2. Notifiable offences include all offences that could possibly be tried by a jury (these include some less serious offences, such as minor theft that would not usually be dealt with in this way) plus a few additional closely related offences, such as assault without injury.
3. Annex B of the previous release ‘Crime in England and Wales: Quarterly Update to September 2011’ (Home Office, 2012a), outlines the impact the recording of these events had on police recorded crime statistics.

Levels of crime: by offence

Theft (CSEW and recorded crime)

While neither series shows an increase in overall levels of crime, both sources provide evidence of an increase in some of the theft-related offence groups. For example, the police recorded crime category of other theft showed a 5 per cent increase in the year ending December 2011. This increase was driven by rises in theft of unattended property (including both offences against individuals and against organisations) and, to a lesser extent, theft from the person and bicycle theft. This offence group makes up more than a quarter of all police recorded crime and the rise in this category is evident in most forces. Recent patterns suggest a slow, steady increase in this group of theft offences over the past two years.

Police recorded figures for theft from the person (for example pick-pocketing) show a 10 per cent increase comparing 2011 with 2010. These latest figures represent the largest year-on-year increase in these offences since 2002; and represent a return to roughly 2008 levels of these offences, following a substantial decrease between 2004 and 2008.

Other household theft in the CSEW showed no statistically significant change based on interviews in 2011 compared with 2010. While the individual year on year changes have not been statistically significant, however, figure B5 suggests an upward trend over the past two years. This offence group consists of items stolen from outside the victim’s home, for example from the garden. It also includes burglaries of non-connected buildings, such as sheds, and thefts in the victim’s dwelling by someone entitled to be there, for example a workman.

Personal acquisitive crime in the CSEW showed a 13 per cent increase in the 12 months to December 2011 compared with a year earlier. This group combines robberies (and attempted robberies) with the more common categories of theft from the person and other theft of personal property (ie theft of unattended property).

Examining trends in the offence categories which make up CSEW personal acquisitive crime suggests that there is not a consistent increase in the crimes that make up this offence group. The apparent increases in theft from the person (11 per cent) and other theft of personal property (14 per cent) are not statistically significant and medium-term trends (see figures B7 and B8) show a series of fluctuations, rather than a pattern of increases.

Vandalism and criminal damage (CSEW and recorded crime)

The two series are consistent in showing substantial falls in criminal damage/vandalism in data collected in the year to December 2011. Police recorded criminal damage showed a decrease of 9 per cent compared with the previous year and CSEW estimates of vandalism showed a fall of 14 per cent. There has been a downward trend in CSEW estimates of vandalism since 2006 (figure B1), and interviews in 2011 saw estimates fall below 2 million offences. The recorded crime series has shown a general pattern of year on year reductions in criminal damage since 2003/04.

Burglary (CSEW and recorded crime)

There was no statistically significant change in levels of domestic burglaries estimated from the CSEW (the 1 per cent rise was not statistically significant), based on interviews in 2011. Despite some apparent fluctuations from year to year, the underlying trend has remained fairly flat in the CSEW since 2005 (figure B2). Where recent releases have shown apparent increases in burglary these have resulted from figures being compared with some unusually low burglary estimates in 2009.

Comparing 2011 with 2010, police recorded domestic burglaries decreased by 3 per cent. This is consistent with the steady, downward trend in police recorded burglary in a dwelling that has been occurring since 2002/03. There was no change in other burglaries (which includes those against businesses) recorded by the police.

Vehicle theft (CSEW and recorded crime)

The CSEW showed no significant change in vehicle-related theft (the apparent increase of 2 per cent was not statistically significant) based on interviews from 2011. It is too early to say whether this represents a flattening out of the downward trend that has occurred since 2005 (figure B3). Police recorded crime figures showed a fall of 7 per cent in the offence group of offences against vehicles in 2011. All three categories of police recorded offences against vehicles fell, with interfering with a motor vehicle falling by 16 per cent.

Bicycle theft (CSEW and recorded crime)

Bicycle thefts recorded by the police rose by 7 per cent in 2011, with increases recorded in most police force areas. The number of incidents of CSEW bicycle theft, based on interviews from the year to December 2011, decreased by 18 per cent. This is one of the lower volume CSEW offence groups, and can show large fluctuations year to year. Figure B4 shows the CSEW estimate for 2011 returning to levels of bicycle crime seen in 2005-07, after higher estimated levels in 2008-10.

Robbery (recorded crime¹)

Robbery offences recorded by the police showed an overall 3 per cent rise in the 12 months ending December 2011 compared with 2010 (from 75,155 to 77,248 offences). Within this offence group, robbery of personal property increased by 4 per cent, while robbery of business property fell by 11 per cent. Since 2008, however, the general trend in police recorded robberies has remained fairly flat.

It is important to note that robbery is an offence which is concentrated in metropolitan areas, with over 50 per cent of offences in the last year being recorded in London alone. Thus national trends tend to reflect what is happening in a small number of forces and a breakdown by force² shows the national increase has been driven by a 13 per cent rise in the Metropolitan Police force area between 2010 and 2011. This increase, at over 4,000 offences, was more than twice the volume of the national increase, and so outside London many forces have actually recorded small reductions in robberies over the same period. Some other metropolitan forces showed decreases in robberies in 2011, notably decreases of 5 per cent in the West Midlands and 13 per cent in Greater Manchester.

Some 23 per cent of robberies recorded by the police in 2011 involved a knife or other sharp instrument. Comparing 2011 with 2010 (excluding West Midlands Police, where reporting practices have changed³), the number of robberies involving knives showed a larger proportional increase, at 9 per cent, than for robberies overall (3 per cent). More details are presented in Annex A.

Violence (CSEW and recorded crime)

CSEW interviews for the 12 months ending December 2011 showed no statistically significant change in the levels of violence compared with 2010 (the apparent 5 per cent increase was not statistically significant). Put in the context of a time series (figure B9), the trend has been fairly flat since 2008, and the 2011 estimates are not statistically significantly different from estimates since 2005.

The level of violence against the person⁴ recorded by the police in 2011, however, showed a 7 per cent fall, compared with the previous year. Both violence with and without injury decreased by 7 per cent. This is consistent with the downward trend shown in the number of police recorded violence against the person crimes in the past five years.

Sexual offences (recorded crime)

Police recorded crime provides information on a number of types of crime that, while serious, are low in relative volume and thus difficult to measure reliably in a sample survey, such as the CSEW. An example is sexual offences where the police recorded an increase of less than 0.5 per cent in 2011 compared with 2010. Within this category, however, most serious sexual crimes increased by 2 per cent. This continues the pattern of increases in recording of such crimes seen since 2009, although the rate of increase appears to be slowing. It is known that a high proportion of sexual offences are not reported to the police and increases in recorded figures may represent improved reporting rates rather than increased victimisation. For these reasons, caution should be used when interpreting trends in these offences (for more information see Chaplin et al., 2011). Other sexual offences recorded by the police decreased by 8 per cent comparing 2011 and 2010.

Firearms (recorded crime, special collection)

Table 2 shows provisional figures for firearm offences⁵ recorded by the police, which accounted for less than 0.2 per cent of all recorded crime in 2011. There was a 17 per cent fall in firearm offences from 7,431 to 6,176 between 2010 and 2011 continuing the general downward trend seen in such offences since 2004/05 (Smith et al., 2012).

Drugs (recorded crime)

Drug offences recorded by the police increased by less than 0.5 per cent in 2011 compared with the previous year. These recorded crime statistics are heavily influenced by policing priorities, and may reflect changes in the policing of drug crime rather than real changes in its incidence. The CSEW is used to monitor trends in drug use among the household population and figures are published annually (for more information see, Smith and Flatley, 2011).

Fraud and forgery (recorded crime)

Fraud and forgery offences recorded by the police showed a 3 per cent fall in 2011, compared with a year earlier. Fraud offences are known to be substantially under-reported to the police and are not covered in the main CSEW crime count. Supplementary questions from the CSEW, together with figures supplied by the financial industry provide a more comprehensive picture as to the scale and trend of fraudulent transactions (for more information see Chaplin et al., 2011). New questions on other aspects of fraud have been developed and were added to the CSEW from April 2011⁶.

Other offences (recorded crime)

Crime figures recorded by the police includes an ‘other miscellaneous offences’ category. This constitutes less than 2 per cent of all recorded crime, and contains a variety of offences from those against the state to perverting the course of justice, and going equipped for stealing. The latest figures show a year on year reduction of 10 per cent in these offences (table 2).

Notes for Levels of crime: by offence

1. Statistics on robberies measured by the CSEW are only presented annually - see Chaplin et al., 2011.
2. Robberies broken down by police force are found on the ONS website.
3. Recording practice in West Midlands Police changed during the comparison period. See Annex A for further details.
4. Unlike the CSEW measure of violence, police recorded violence against the person does not include sexual offences or robbery but does include a range of state based offences such as possession of weapons. Refer to section 5 of the User Guide for more information regarding coverage of crime measures.
5. These firearm offences cover those where a firearm has been fired, used as a blunt instrument against a person or used as a threat. These figures exclude offences involving air weapons.
6. Data from these questions will be available in the second half of 2012.

Public Perceptions (CSEW)

Anti-social behaviour

Table 4 shows that, based on CSEW interviews in 2011, the proportion of people who perceived a high level of anti-social behaviour (ASB) in their local area remained at 14 per cent. Of the seven indicators that make up the composite measure, one showed a statistically significant decrease compared with the previous year: ‘teenagers hanging around’ (from 26 to 25 per cent). The rest showed no statistically significant changes.

Worry about crime

The CSEW measures the proportion of adults with a high level of worry about burglary, car crime and violent crime. Table 5 shows that, based on the CSEW interviews during 2011, there were no statistically significant changes compared with the previous 12 months.

Confidence in the police and the Criminal Justice System (CJS)

All but one public confidence measure included in table 6 showed statistically significant increases between 2011 and 2010. The proportion of people who thought that the police in their local area were doing a good or excellent job showed an increase from 58 per cent to 61 per cent. There was a similar percentage point increase in the proportion of people who agreed that the police were dealing with the things that matter to people in the community from 57 per cent in 2010 to 61 per cent in December 2011.

The proportion of people agreeing that the Criminal Justice System (CJS) as a whole was effective increased by a smaller, but still statistically significant, amount over the same period, from 42 per cent to 44 per cent. More detailed information on public perceptions of the police is available in Chapter 5 of Chaplin et al., (2011) and Moon and Flatley et al. (2011).

The largest increase in table 6 was in the proportion of people who agreed that that the police and local council were dealing with anti social behaviour and crime issues that matter in the local area which increased from 52 per cent in 2010 to 59 per cent in 2011. While this measure has been increasing gradually in recent years, (see figure 5.4 Chaplin et al., 2011), there is, strong evidence that increases are due to questionnaire changes incorporated in April 2011.

Analysis of the underlying monthly figures shows a step change between March and April 2011 in this measure which coincides with changes made to the CSEW questionnaire. This suggests that the increase may be a result of changes to the questionnaire (for example, a change in the questions immediately preceding these questions in the survey) rather than to a change in people’s confidence in the police.

Figure 3 illustrates this by presenting all of the measures on confidence by police by quarter. It can be seen that the proportion of people who agreed that the police and local council were dealing with anti-social behaviour and crime issues that matter in their area rose from 52 per cent in the period January to March 2011, to 60 per cent in the period April to June 2011 and then remained stable for the remainder of 2011.

Further analysis is being undertaken of all three measures to investigate this issue and in the meantime caution should be used in interpreting year on year changes.

Figure 3 Confidence in the police, by interview quarter

England and Wales

Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

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Annex A: Violent and sexual offences involving the use of knives and other sharp instruments

Table A1 shows that, in 2011, the police recorded 32,587 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument. Because recording practices in the West Midlands changed in 2010/11, the knife and sharp instrument offences data reported in the remainder of this section exclude that police force, in order to provide consistent comparisons over time. Overall, there was a 2 per cent increase in the level of offences involving a knife or sharp instrument compared with 2010.

Analysis of selected individual offence groups shows robbery offences involving the use of a knife or sharp instrument increased by 9 per cent over the last year, from 14,246 to 15,552. This kind of fluctuation is not unusual, however, given its relatively low volumes. Only three offence groups in table 2 above contain fewer offences than robberies involving a knife or sharp instrument and so large percentage changes year-to-year are to be expected. All robberies increased by 3 per cent comparing 2011 with 2010, and robberies involving a knife or sharp instrument made up some 23 per cent of the total.

In contrast, there was a fall in the other main component of knife crime: grievous and actual bodily harm offences involving a knife. These offences decreased by 4 per cent (from 12,987 to 12,442). The much smaller offence group of threats to kill involving a knife decreased substantially (down 15 per cent, from 1,443 to 1,223).

The relatively low number of homicides, attempted murders, rapes and sexual assaults that involve the use of a knife or sharp instrument means that care should be taken when comparing these figures over time, as large apparent percentage changes can relate to only small year-on-year variations in numbers rather than longer-term trends. Top level figures are:

• provisional data show that there were 211 knife or sharp instrument homicides in 2011, compared with 204 the previous year

• there were 213 knife or sharp instrument attempted murders in 2011 compared with 206 in 2010. Just over half of all attempted murders (some 51 per cent) in 2011 involved the use of a knife or sharp instrument

The proportion of selected violent offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in 2011 (7 per cent) was one percentage point higher than in 2010 (6 per cent).

Annex B: Medium term trends

This annex provides some supplementary information on the medium-term trends in CSEW crimes. All data presented here cover interviews conducted in calendar years, from 2005. This period has been chosen, as from this point onwards a general levelling off of CSEW crime has been seen (Chaplin et al., 2011), and so this is a relevant starting point to look at medium-term patterns.

Sometimes the series show different short-term trends both for overall crime, where the crime survey shows no change and recorded crime shows a decrease, and for some offence types, notably bicycle theft where the level in one source is decreasing, while the other shows an increase. It should be borne in mind that:

• CSEW estimates cover the 12 months before each respondent’s interview, and therefore lag police recorded crime figures (see Introduction)

• estimates from the CSEW are subject to a degree of variation as a result of sampling

• low-volume offences can frequently show apparently large year-on-year changes

The graphs below show the number of CSEW crimes for the past seven years for each of the categories of crime shown in figure 1. Error bars are used to indicate confidence intervals at the 95 per cent level ie the range that the true figure is expected to fall within. Where differences between data points are such that the error bars do not overlap, this is evidence of a change in crime levels that is unlikely to simply be a result of the uncertainty associated with any sample survey. Non-overlapping changes can be said to be statistically significant (for more information on statistical significance and confidence intervals, see Section 8 of the User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales (ONS, 2012)).

The population estimate data used to create these estimates have been recently revised. These revised data are used in the 2010 and 2011 estimates but not for figures covering 2005 to 2009, where previously published figures have been used in calculations. 

Figure B1 Vandalism CSEW offences, 2005 to 2011

England and Wales

Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

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Figure B2 Burglary CSEW offences, 2005 to 2011

England and Wales

Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

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Figure B3 Vehicle-related theft CSEW offences, 2005 to 2011

England and Wales

Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

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Figure B4 Bicycle theft CSEW offences, 2005 to 2011

England and Wales

Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

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Figure B5 Other household theft CSEW offences, 2005 to 2011

England and Wales

Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

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Figure B6 All household CSEW offences, 2005 to 2011

England and Wales

Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

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Figure B7 Theft from the person CSEW offences, 2005 to 2011

England and Wales

Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

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Figure B8 Other theft of personal property CSEW offences, 2005 to 2011

England and Wales

Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

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Figure B9 All violence CSEW offences, 2005 to 2011

England and Wales

Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

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Figure B10 All personal CSEW offences, 2005 to 2011

England and Wales

Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

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Notes

Changes to crime statistics

This quarterly first release, part of a series formerly published by the Home Office, is the first to be released by the ONS. In January 2011, the Home Secretary announced a Review of Crime Statistics to be undertaken by the National Statistician, Jil Matheson. On 6 June 2011, the National Statistician published her Review, a copy of which is available on the Statistics Authority website.

One of the eight recommendations was that responsibility for the publication of the crime statistics should move to an independent body (the ONS). It was also recommended that the ONS assume responsibility for the management of the British Crime Survey (since re-titled as the Crime Survey for England and Wales). The transfer of responsibilities to ONS took effect from 1 April 2012. Announcements regarding the future publication of the crime statistics will be made in due course.

The Government accepted the recommendations of the National Statistician in a Written Ministerial Statement.

British Crime Survey: change of name

The British Crime Survey is now known as the Crime Survey for England and Wales to better reflect its geographical coverage. While the survey did previously cover the whole of Great Britain it ceased to include Scotland in its sample in the late 1980s. There is a separate survey – the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey – covering Scotland. Given the transfer of responsibility for the survey to ONS, it was decided that the name change would take effect from 1 April 2012.

Data associated with the release

This first release shows national figures for 2011. Also available are:

• National recorded crime data for individual quarters

• Figures at police force area level. These statistics cover a range of recorded crime offence groups and CSEW findings on confidence in the police

• Recorded crime figures on a rolling 12-month basis going back to 2002/03 at police force and local authority area level

All of the above can be accessed on the ONS website.

List of products

The following are URL links associated with the production of Crime Statistics.

1. Pre-April 2012 publications on the Home Office website

2. Historic police recorded crime

3. User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales

4. British Crime Survey 2010/11 Technical Report

5. Crime in England and Wales 2010/11. Published 14 July 201

6. ‘Public perceptions of policing, engagement with police and victimisation: Findings from the 2010/11 British Crime Survey’ Supplementary Volume 1 to Crime in England and Wales 2010/11, Home Office Statistical Bulletin 18/11. Published 17 November 2011

7. ‘Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2010/11’ Supplementary Volume 2 to Crime in England and Wales 2010/11, Home Office Statistical Bulletin 02/12. Published 19 January 2012

8. ‘Hate crime, cyber security and the experience of crime among children: Findings from the 2010/11 British Crime Survey’ Supplementary Volume 3 to Crime in England and Wales 2010/11, Home Office Statistical Bulletin 06/12. Published 29 March 2012

9. National Statistician’s Review of Crime Statistics

10. UK Data Archive

In addition to these National Statistics releases, provisional management information drawn from police recorded crime figures, published at street level each month, is available:

   11.  Police recorded crime, street level mapping tool

References

Chaplin, R., Flatley, J. and Smith, K. (Eds), 2011, ‘Crime in England and Wales 2010/11’, Home Office Statistical Bulletin 10/11

Home Office, 2012a, ‘Crime in England and Wales: Quarterly Update to September 2011’, Home Office Statistical Bulletin 01/12

Home Office, 2012b, ‘Hate crime, cyber security and the experience of crime among children: Findings from the 2010/11 British Crime Survey’ Supplementary Volume 3 to Crime in England and Wales 2010/11, Home Office Statistical Bulletin 06/12

Moon, D. and Flatley, J. (Eds), Parfrement-Hopkins, J., Hall, P., Hoare, J., Lau, I., and Innes, J., 2011, ‘Public perceptions of policing, engagement with police and victimisation: Findings from the 2010/11 British Crime Survey’ Supplementary Volume 1 to Crime in England and Wales 2010/11, Home Office Statistical Bulletin 18/11

National Statistician, 2011, ‘National Statistician’s Review of Crime Statistics: England and Wales’

Office for National Statistics, 2012, ‘User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales’

Smith, K. and Flatley, J. (Eds), 2011, ‘Drug Misuse Declared: Findings from the 2010/11 British Crime Survey’, Home Office Statistical Bulletin 12/11

Smith, K., Osborne, S., Lau, I., Britton, A., 2012, ‘Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2010/11’ Supplementary Volume 2 to Crime in England and Wales 2010/11, Home Office Statistical Bulletin 02/12

Further information

The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) figures presented in this release are based on interviews conducted in the year ending December 2011, measuring each respondent’s experiences of crime in the 12 months before the interview. It therefore covers a mix of crimes occurring in 2010 and 2011. Nine months of the data reported on here overlap with the data contained in the last bulletin produced by the Home Office (Home Office, 2012a). Recorded crime figures in this release relate to crimes recorded by the police in the year ending December 2011.

The CSEW

The CSEW does not cover all offences, with homicide, fraud and drug offences being notable exclusions. A separate component of the crime survey measures crimes committed against 10-15 year olds: Experimental statistics on the victimisation of children are shown separately for 2009/10 and 20010/11 in the relevant chapters of ‘Crime in England and Wales 2010/11’ (see Chaplin et al., 2011).  It is planned that these estimates will be incorporated in future first releases and published on a quarterly, rather than annual, basis.

Being a household survey the CSEW does not cover crime against businesses. Following a recommendation of the National Statistician’s review of crime statistics (National Statistician, 2011), a survey of commercial victimisation is currently being planned to run later in 2012 to provide statistics on key sectors of the economy over the next three years. These results will also be incorporated into future quarterly releases in 2013.

The CSEW fieldwork was carried out by TNS-BMRB. In the year ending March 2011, the CSEW had a nationally representative sample of 46,754 adults with a response rate of 76 per cent¹. The survey is weighted to adjust for possible non-response bias and to ensure the sample reflects the profile of the general population. Being based on a sample survey, CSEW estimates are subject to a margin of error. Unless stated otherwise, all changes in CSEW estimates described in the main text are statistically significant at the 95 per cent level. For more information on statistical significance and confidence intervals for CSEW data, see Section 8 of the User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales (ONS, 2012).

Police Recorded crime

Police recorded crime is the primary source of sub-national crime statistics and for lower-volume crimes. It covers people (for example residents of institutions and tourists) and sectors (for example commercial crime) excluded from the CSEW sample and has a wider coverage of offences (for example covering homicide and sexual offences not included in the main CSEW crime count). Police recorded crime also provides good measures of well-reported crimes but does not cover any crimes that are not reported to or discovered by the police. It should be noted that recorded crime can be influenced by changes in recording practices or police activity. As well as the main police recorded crime series, there are additional collections covering knife crime (data for which are presented in Annex A) and firearm offences, which are too low in volume to be measured reliably by the CSEW.

Police recorded crime figures have been subject to a data reconciliation process with individual forces but remain provisional as forces can revise figures during the financial year. The annual National Statistics on police recorded crime at police force level are published alongside the annual bulletin after a fuller reconciliation and quality assurance process has  been completed by the Home Office Statistics Unit in liaison with individual police forces.  

Notes for Further information

1. Based on CSEW interviews achieved during the year ending March 2011. The response rate for the year ending December 2011 cannot be calculated as finalised response figures are not available.

Background notes

1. The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

   Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

   • meet identified user needs

   • are well explained and readily accessible

   • are produced according to sound methods, and

   • are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest

   Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

2. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.
3. Next quarterly publication: July 2012.

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