To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost of burglary offences to the British insurance industry each year between 1995 and 2002. [98137]
I have been asked to reply.The Government do not make any estimates of the cost of burglary offences to the insurance industry. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) publish annual information in their "Insurance Statistics Yearbook" on total UK claims for property damage due to theft.The Home Office has published estimates of the economic and social costs of crime (Home Office Research Study 217). This study includes the cost of "insurance administration", that is the resources used in administering and processing premiums and claims, based on information in the ABI "Yearbook". The study estimates the total cost to society of insurance administration in England and Wales in 1999–2000 was £140 million for burglary in a dwelling and –50 million for burglary not in a dwelling.