You asked
West Midlands Police issued a press release, quote:
"Today, (25 February) the Office for National Statistics has released crime statistics on homicide and violent crime. West Midlands Police – like most forces across the country – has seen a rise in the number of violent crime offences due to improvements in the way we are recording crime inevitably increasing the number of this type of offence. These statistics cover a broad spectrum of violent crime offences ranging from assault without injury and harassment, to homicide. However, it is the lower levels of violence where injuries are minor where we have seen a rise in recorded offences. Assaults where victims have received minor injuries have significantly decreased which is also illustrated in the number of hospital admissions for assaults which have fallen by 8% nationally as the injuries are minor and do not need hospital treatment. However. we recognise there is a rise in offences involving knives or sharp instruments particularly amongst young people".
I note that the police have avoided any link to the ONS data they are discussing and have failed to quote any actual incident numbers, nor the percentage increases, so that West Midlands public remain ignorant of what is really going on, but they assure us the increases are due to improvements in the way they are recording crime.
I have tried but failed to discover the crime data relating to our West Midlands area and would therefore appreciate requesting it under FOI legislation.
FOI Q1. Please confirm your definition of the region comprising Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Walsall, Solihull and Dudley.
FOI Q2. For the aforementioned West Midlands region, please confirm the latest figures for total population and number (or percentage) from ethnic minority backgrounds, and the date to which these figures refer.
FOI Q3. For the aforementioned West Midlands region please provide the most recent crime statistics, which include the actual numbers and percentage change of crimes, with sufficient data to cover at least the issues mentioned in the preamble to this request, with comparative figures for this year/last year.
We said
Thank you for your request.
Population statistics for Qs 1 and 2:
The mid-2019 population estimates are the most recent and contain estimates of the population of the West Midlands and the individual local authorities which make it up. The 7 local authorities covered by the West Midlands Police Force are a sub-set of those in the region of the West Midlands covered by the mid-year estimates.
The most up-to-date, official estimates of the population by ethnic group for national, regional and local authorities are those estimates from the 2011 Census. Data from the 2011 Census are freely available on the Nomis website.
These most recent official estimates of the population of the UK by ethnic group are available at local authority level for the West Midlands here. These most recent official estimates of the population of England and Wales by ethnic group, sex and age are available at local authority level for the West Midlands are here. If you wish to receive further guidance on how to obtain these data from Nomis, please email pop.info@ons.gov.uk to be provided with a detailed explanation.
Alternatively, the Research report on population estimates by ethnic group and religion and the accompanying Population characteristics research tables provide population estimates at national, regional and local authority level for England and Wales by ethnic group and religion for 2016. To access these data, click on the above link, scroll down to 'Edition in this dataset' and open the xls document entitled 'December 2019 edition of this dataset'. While these do provide estimates below regional level they don't include CCGs.
Please note
The estimates provided in the Population characteristics research tables represent illustrative estimates of the population by ethnic group and religion. These data are not official statistics. For more information about the methodology used to produce these data, please consult the accompanying Research report.
For any questions about this data, please email pop.info@ons.gov.uk.
Crime statistics for Q3:
Our most recent crime data for West Midlands Police and West Midlands region can be found in the Police Force Area data tables, published alongside the release Crime in England and Wales: year ending September 2020. These tables contain the number of police recorded crimes, percentage change from previous year and rate per 1,000 population by offence group. They also include data for offences involving the use of firearms, and offences involving the use of a knife or sharp instrument.
Data for the year ending September 2019 can be found in the Police recorded crime open data Police Force Area tables published by the Home Office on GOV.UK. To access these data, click on the link and scroll down to the file titled 'Police recorded crime open data Police Force Area tables from year ending March 2013 onwards'.
Alternatively, you can find data for West Midlands police in our Recorded crime data by Community Safety Partnership (CSP) area tables. These tables contain the number of offences for the last two years, percentage change between these two time periods and rates per 1,000 population for the latest year.
Please be aware that due to a technical issue West Midlands police were unable to supply data for offences recorded for Assault with injury on an emergency worker (other than a constable), Criminal damage to a dwelling, and Criminal damage to a building other than a dwelling. Data for these offences are not included in the year ending September 2020 tables. This will be rectified in the next publication.
Also, alongside our release Homicide in England and Wales: year ending March 2020 we publish data by police force area and region in the Offences involving the use of weapons: data tables (tables 12, 14, 17, 18 and 21) and the Appendix tables: homicide in England and Wales (table 20).
Please contact CrimeStatistics@ons.gov.uk for any further questions about this data.