Proposals To Withdraw National Statistics Series

Sir David Normington’s review ‘Reducing the Data Burden on Police Forces in England and Wales’ aimed to reduce these forces’ data collection burden by 50 per cent. As a result, it contains proposals for cutting out altogether or reducing significantly 36 data streams.

Statistics from two of these data streams are published as National Statistics in the Home Office statistical bulletin Police Powers and Procedures England and Wales.

They are:

Motoring offences: vehicle defect rectification scheme notices
Motoring offences: returns of written warnings and cautions data

The Normington Review looked at the use being made of data collected from the police and recommended that both series should cease as a compulsory collection from 2010/11 onwards. This decision was reached following findings that these data were little used centrally, with little apparent external use, and therefore constituted an unnecessary data collation burden on the police. It is now appropriate that we follow the process for withdrawing the series under the National Statistics code of practice.

The two collections are currently published as part of statistical overview of non-court police sanctions for motoring offenders. Others sanctions includes breath tests and fixed penalty notices, including those detected by traffic camera. They will continue to be collected and published.

Under the National Statistics code of practice, we now have a period of consultation, where users are invited to comment on the recommendations. They will be considered when submitting final proposals for approval by the National Statistician.

Please send your comments to AnnualDataRequirement@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk by 31 January 2010. An announcement of the outcome of the consultation will be made in March/April 2010 in the pre-announced statistical bulletin Police Powers and Procedures England and Wales 2008/09.