I hope it will be clear to the House that, despite the disappointment which the crime statistics for last year represent, the Government has a comprehensive and coherent strategy for dealing with crime. The increase in recorded crime in 2002 is most worrying and demands close study. Undoubtedly, it represents a genuine increase in crime, which cannot be argued or analysed away. It is what it is. However, that being said, I believe there are some complicating factors which could have a bearing on how we should interpret these statistics. In this respect, I mentioned earlier the crime rate per head of population.