The Office of National Statistics has published its quarterly update for the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for the year ending September 2017.
Overall, the data shows there has been a 14% increase in police recorded crime, while the CSEW shows an 11% decrease in crime in the year ending September 2017.
The Minister for Policing and Fire has issued the following response.
Minister for Policing and the Fire Service Nick Hurd said:
The independent Office for National Statistics is clear that overall traditional crime is continuing to fall, and is now down by almost 40 per cent since 2010, while fraud and computer misuse - the most commonly experienced crime - has reduced by 15% in the past year.
It is also welcome that the police’s recording of crime is improving, and that more victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence are feeling empowered to come forward.
But we know that some of the increase in police-recorded violent offences is genuine which is why we have taken urgent action to stop these crimes. We will be announcing tough new laws to crack down on acid attacks and knife offences. And as crime changes, we will change our response - our forthcoming Serious Violence Strategy will place a new emphasis on steering young people away from a life of crime, while continuing to promote the strongest possible law enforcement response.
The Government has taken the following action to tackle crime.
- In October last year we launched a public consultation into new laws around offensive and dangerous weapons (knives, guns and acid), aimed at tackling serious violence.
- The Government’s new Serious Violence Strategy, due to be published in Spring, will put greater focus on steering young people away from a life of crime, while continuing to promote a strong law enforcement response.
- We are supporting communities to prevent violent crime and have awarded £765,000 to community groups and more than £280,000 to community projects working to end gang violence and exploitation.
- For 2018/19 we have provided a strong and comprehensive police funding settlement that will increase funding by up to £450m across the police system.
- We have strengthened firearms controls through the Policing and Crime Act 2017 by closing loopholes in the law which have previously been exploited by criminals.
- We are providing millions of pounds of extra investment through the Police Transformation Fund; for example transforming the police approach to child sexual exploitation to protect vulnerable children and enhancing our intelligence, detection and enforcement capabilities and policies, internationally, at the UK border and within the UK.
- We are bringing forward a draft Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill which will protect victims and make sure agencies respond effectively. We have pledged £100 million in dedicated funding until 2020 to tackle violence against women and girls.
- In July 2017 we published the new Drug Strategy, which brings together police, health, community and global partners to tackle the illicit drug trade, protect the most vulnerable and help those with a drug dependency to recover and turn their lives around.
- The Joint Fraud Taskforce is an innovative public/private partnership where Government, banks and law enforcement are working collaboratively to tackle some of the most complex fraud issues.
- The Government is investing £1.9 billion to support the National Cyber Security Strategy 2016-2021, which includes ensuring that our law enforcement agencies have the capacity and capabilities to deal with the increasing volume and sophistication of cyber crime.