Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she last discussed with the Mayor of London in his capacity as Police and Crime Commissioner for London the change in the level of crime recorded as violence against the person by the Metropolitan Police in the last 12 months for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement.

Home Office Ministers have regular meetings with Ministerial colleagues and others as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.

According to the latest crime figures published by the Office for National Statistics, the Crime Survey for England and Wales shows a 23% fall in violence in the year to the end of June 2014, and this is supported by NHS data on hospital admissions for assault which also indicates violence is falling.

Over the same period, the number of violence offences recorded by the police rose by 11%, with the Metropolitan Police one of the forces seeing a rise. The Office for National Statistics noted that the increase in police recorded violence is partly due to improved reporting and recording of violence and particularly of domestic abuse. This improvement follows HMIC's inspection of crime recording in every police force in England and Wales, which the Home Secretary commissioned in 2013, and which found significant under-recording of crime.

The data shows that forces are acting on the findings.

We also know that some violent crimes like domestic and sexual violence are under-reported. We welcome more people reporting them to the police and we want to see more cases being brought to justice.