I have been asked to forward this message by the Crime Surveys Team in Home
Office Statistics (with apologies for cross posting).

Home Office Statistics is seeking views and comments from users on extending
the British Crime Survey to under 16s. In particular, we would welcome
comments on the following specific points:

What should be the lower age limit for the survey and why? It has been
recommended that we should cover children aged 10 and above. However, our
initial development work suggests that 11 may be a better lower age limit as
10 year olds have more difficulty focusing and answering questions and are
less likely to have personal experience of victimisation. In addition, by
asking 11-year-olds about their experiences of crime in the last year we
would be partly covering their experiences at the age of 10. We are
therefore considering only including children aged 11 to 15 in the survey.

What additional crime-related topics should the survey cover and why? We are
anticipating an interview of about 20 minutes in length, most of which will
be taken up with questions on personal victimisation. There will be scope
for some additional topics, such as perceptions and contact with the police,
feelings of safety and experiences of bullying. We welcome views on which
topics should be covered and why.

How should the estimates of personal victimisation be treated and reported?
It is clear that questions designed for adults will need to be adapted to be
understood and relevant to the circumstances of children. This may make
direct comparisons between children and adult victimisation problematic.
Should we aim to combine estimates from the children's sample with the main
adult sample, or should they be reported separately?

Is there interest in providing estimates for other sub-groups? Should we
investigate the use of different age groups, for example estimates for 11-18
year olds?

Responses to this consultation should be sent to the address given in the
document downloadable from the below weblink (post or e-mail to
[log in to unmask]) by 8th August 2008 (this document also
contains further information relevant to the consultation). The responses
will then be analysed in order to inform the survey development. We will
publish a response document which will summarise responses to the
consultation and decisions made based on this in Autumn 2008. Please
download full details from:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs08/bcs-consultation-0508.pdf


Dr Chris Kershaw
Head of Policing Statistics
Home Office Statistics
Home Office, 5th Floor Peel Building, 
2 Marsham Street,London SW1P 4DF
United Kingdom


Tel (0) 20  7035 0275
Home Tel (0)1727 842023
Fax (0) 87  0336  9052
Mobile (0) 7885 932944

All opinions are personal and independent of any official view of the Home
Office