Responding to news that the Home Office is to change the criteria for recording ‘undetected’ crimes, Diana Johnson, the Shadow Crime and Security Minister, said:

“Clearer information for the public is welcome but no amount of changing the way crime statistics are recorded will hide this government’s hollowing out of the police service and the reduced justice victims now receive.

"The blunt truth is that fewer cases are being solved since the hollowing out of the police service started in 2010. No amount of changing the statistics can get away from the fact that fewer prosecutions are taking place for domestic violence, child sex abuse and rape on this Government’s watch despite more crime being recorded for these most serious crimes. And 30,000 fewer crimes of all types are being solved since 2010 given the decline in detection rates in the last 3 years.

"We need to see more detail on these proposed changes. We have called for more information on the use of community resolutions for some time as they can be very effective for anti-social behaviour, however there has been an explosion in their use for wholly inappropriate crimes such domestic violence, sexual assault and other serious crimes. This is against all the guidelines and stems from a lack of police and CPS resources to do anything else. The Government should be taking action to address this.”

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