You asked
FOI Ref: FOI/2021/3171
I am hoping to investigate the causal link between individuals living in social housing and its impact on knife crime over a 10-15 year period, in particular at Borough level.
I was hoping you could provide me with this data? I have tried to utilise the CSEW dataset but the variables aren't exhaustive enough and hence compiling various datasets instead.
If possible, could the data be specified at a youth level (Ages 10-15) from 2005-2020? Or if not, at an adult level between 2005-2020?
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
We publish data on offences involving the use of knives or sharp instruments from two main sources: police recorded crime and the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).
Within the police recorded crime data on offences involving knives or sharp instruments that we hold, we are not able to separately identify the age of either the victim or the perpetrator.
Police recorded crime data on offences involving knives or sharp instruments are collected and owned by the Home Office. They have published a dataset "Offences involving the use of knives or sharp instruments open data year ending March 2009 onwards" available here, which may be of some use to you, although this does not break down the data by age or at a borough level. Therefore, you may also wish to contact them (via: crimeandpolicestats@homeoffice.gov.uk) about your request.
Unfortunately, we do not hold the requested analysis from the data collected from the CSEW. In order to fulfil this request, we would need to use a high level of statistical skill and judgement in order to create a bespoke analysis for you. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, public authorities are not obligated to create information in order to respond to requests. We therefore consider this to be information not held.
If you have any crime-related queries in the future, please email crimestatistics@ons.gov.uk and we will endeavour to help.