asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what increases and decreases have occurred in the main categories of crime during the last year, or nearest convenient year, in those parts of the Metropolitan police district and of the Essex police area falling within the Epping Forest parliamentary constituency.

The only information readily available to me is for the parts of Epping Forest district falling within the Metropolitan police district, where burglaries fell by 8 per cent. in 1986. The Metropolitan police recorded 1,848 offences of theft, about 150 more than in 1985; and 767 offences of criminal damage, about 100 more. The number of offences of violence, including robbery and sexual offences, remained low.