The UK Statistics Authority wrote to Emily Thornberry MP about crime and police statistics

27 April 2023 · Sir Robert Chote, UK Statistics Authority

The letter, dated 27 April 2023, replies to correspondence of 18 April 2023. The UK Statistics Authority published it as Response from Sir Robert Chote to Emily Thornberry MP – crime and police statistics; it links to 3 official records. Below are 2 passages from the letter in the regulator's own words.

What the UK Statistics Authority wrote

“This statement is an accurate description of estimates of total incidents of crime against individuals as measured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), excluding fraud and computer misuse.”

“Nevertheless, it would support public understanding if Ministers using this comparison were explicit in stating the offences excluded, or instead used figures relating to specific types of offences.”

From Sir Robert Chote, UK Statistics Authority, letter of 27 April 2023. Read the full letter.

The words the letter quotes

The letter quotes 3 passages from the public record:

“since the Conservatives came into power, crime is down 50 per cent”

“If you take 2010 as the starting point – 145,000, that was the previous peak, March 2010 – when the figures come out next week, you’ll see that they are higher than that 145,000.”

Source named in the letter: the latest ONS bulletin at that time

“I’m not going to speculate precisely, but it will be some margin higher, we’re talking about some thousands higher [than March 2010].”

Source named in the letter: the latest ONS bulletin at that time

Records the letter links to

• This statement (hansard.parliament.uk)
• the latest ONS bulletin at that time
• latest published police officer uplift statistics at the time

Correspondence

• The letter it answered: Letter from Emily Thornberry MP to Sir Robert Chote – crime statistics (22 March 2023)
• The letter it answered: Letter from Emily Thornberry MP to Sir Robert Chote – crime and police statistics (18 April 2023)

Related key figures

• Crime Survey for England and Wales: headline crime
• Police officer numbers (England and Wales)

More on Emily Thornberry.

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