http://www.politics.co.uk/public-services/blears-defends-british-crime-survey-$3646170.htm
"The Home Office Minister Hazel Blears has strongly defended the Government's use of the British Crime Survey (BCS).
Her comments come in response to a report from the Crime and Society Foundation, which sharply criticises the Government's usage of the measure.
The BCS is an annual survey of around 40,000 individuals, in which participants are asked whether they have been a victim of certain crimes over the past year. It is widely used as an authoritative measure of crime, as it covers those crimes which were not reported to the police.
However, today's report argues that the BCS says little about 'a range of crimes, including sexual assaults, crimes against children, and white collar crime'.
As such, it also claims that the Government's focus on tackling prolific offenders risks ignoring other crimes, like domestic violence and sexual assaults, which do not often come to the attention of authorities. "
