To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of trends in the extent of under-recording of rape against women over the last 10 years. (260933)

Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR) provide guidance to police forces about how crime reported to the police should be recorded and detected. The HOCR were updated in 2004 to reflect changes made to legislation governing sexual offences in the Sexual Offences Act 2003. This change in recording practice means that direct comparisons between reporting rates over the last 10 years cannot be made.