Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the document Crime in England and Wales: Police Force Area Data Tables, published by the Office for National Statistics on 19 July 2018, what assessment his Department has made of the reason for the increase in the level of reported crime in Northumbria between April 2017 and March 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Crime figures for England and Wales are published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and incorporate police recorded crime (PRC) and the independent Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). The table below shows the latest changes in PRC for Northumbria for the year ending March 2018 compared to the previous year.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

Overall, crime recorded by police forces in England and Wales increased by 11% in the year ending March 2018. The independent Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said that this increase is largely due to improvements in crime recording by police forces, and the increased willingness of victims to report such crimes to the police. The ONS has also noted that there have been genuine rises in some low-volume, high-harm categories of violence, notably knife crime, gun crime and homicide. Our Serious Violence Strategy, published on 9 April, puts greater focus on steering young people away from a life of crime, while continuing to promote a strong law enforcement response.

The most recent national crime figures are published by the Office for National Statistic in ‘Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2018’ (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2018).