Recorded Crime in Scotland: March 2022

Annex 1: Background

As outlined on page one, these monthly Official Statistics were introduced to inform users about the volume and type of crimes and offences recorded in Scotland during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Their role is to provide more recent information on this topic - in a product that has been produced by Scottish Government statisticians, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

The annual Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin remains the primary source of information on crimes and offences recorded by the police, and has been designated as National Statistics by the Office for Statistics Regulation. The most recent update, covering the 2020-21 reporting year, was published on 28 September 2021. Users should refer to the National Statistics for more detailed information on the production of the recorded crime statistics - including governance arrangements, a description of their quality, background methodologies and changes to recording practice.

We earlier ran a consultation of users on the production and dissemination of Scotland's recorded crime statistics. A report on the responses received as part of the consultation, along with an announcement of changes to the production of these statistics, was published on 24 March 2022.

The changes include the discontinuation of these Monthly Official Statistics after this March 2022 edition. They will then be replaced with a quarterly release of National Statistics, which will present the latest rolling 12-month period. As part of the transition to a quarterly release schedule, and to ensure that we are publishing data in as timely a manner as possible - we will bring forward the release of the annual National Statistics publication for 2021-22 from September to June.