Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the news story entitled Police given more time to focus on solving crimes and protecting public published by her Department on 13 April 2023, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed reporting changes on (a) trends in the level of crimes recorded and (b) the accuracy of recorded crime statistics.

The best measure of trends in crime experienced by the general public, according to the independent Office for National Statistics, is the Crime Survey for England and Wales which is unaffected by changes to the Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR) for recorded crime.

The HOCR is a victim-based recording system and the changes return us to a position where when a victim reports several crimes to the police at the same time which were committed by the same offender only a “principal crime” is reported to the Home Office. The Police will continue to be expected to log the details of all relevant offences disclosed by the victim within the principal crime record. The Government continues to expect the Police to investigate all crimes reported to them regardless of the fact that many will not be reported to the Home Office, and this position remains unchanged.

The changes in the HOCR will give a more accurate picture of police caseload and better hold them to account for their response.

As well as reducing bureaucracy, the latest changes are designed to help provide a clearer picture of the actual levels of crime that are being reported to the police and to free up more of their time to support victims, pursue perpetrators and prioritise the investigation of crimes which matter most to the public.