To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of theft of a purse have occurred in (a) North Yorkshire, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) England in each year since 1997. (295751)

The information requested is not available centrally from the recorded crime statistics.

Offences of theft of a purse would be recorded as theft from the person, robbery of personal property or other theft depending on the circumstances surrounding each individual offence. Such offences cannot be separately identified from other offences recorded within these offence classifications.