To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of children under the age of 16 who were victims of crime in each year since 1997 were from single-parent households. (223752)

The information requested is not currently available.

There are two primary sources of statistics on crime held by the Home Office. Police recorded crime is based on aggregate returns from police forces of the number of notifiable offences reported to and recorded by the police. Such returns do not contain information on the characteristics of victims or their families. The British crime survey is a sample survey of households in England and Wales and covers crimes experienced in the 12 months prior to interview. Currently, the survey is restricted to the experiences of adults aged 16 years and over. Following a recommendation of the independent Smith review of Home Office crime statistics, the survey is being extended to include those aged under 16 years from 2009.