Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many instances of knife crime occurred in Hertfordshire in (1) 2022, (2) 2021, (3) 2020, and (4) 2019.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the noble Lord Bishop’s Parliamentary Question of 9 February is attached.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician

The Rt Rev. the Lord Bishop of St Albans

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

16 February 2023

Dear Lord Bishop,

As the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many instances of knife crime occurred in Hertfordshire from the years 2019 to 2022 (HL5628).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for collecting and publishing figures on the levels and trends of crime in England and Wales based on two sets of crime statistics: the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime data. Police recorded knife or sharp instrument offences data are supplied to the ONS by the Home Office.

Hertfordshire is one of 38 forces who supply data through the National Data Quality Improvement Service (NDQIS). The NDQIS uses a computer-assisted classification tool to determine whether an offence included a knife or sharp instrument or not.

An offence is recorded as involving a knife or sharp instrument when the weapon is present during offence, or the threat is believed to be real, even if the weapon has not necessarily been used. Offences of “possession of an article with a blade or point” are covered separately by a specific recorded crime category.

The number of offences involving knives or sharp instruments for each Police Force Area are published in our Police Force Area tables alongside our quarterly Crime in England and Wales release.

We have provided the estimates of Hertfordshire for years 2019 to 2022 in Table 1.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: Number of recorded offences which involved a knife or sharp instrument in Hertfordshire Police Force Area, year ending March 2019 to year ending March 2022[1]

Source: Home Office - Police recorded crime

[1] Police recorded crime are not designated as National Statistics.