Some recent statistics released from official sources:
LEGAL
- Repeat offenders: Ministry of Justice show that 102,310 people convicted in 2011 – nearly a third of the overall total of offenders – had committed 15 or more crimes. 70,000 men had committed between seven and 14 crimes.
- Average jail sentences: Average jail sentences have also risen – one of the biggest increases was for sex offenders who now receive an average of 53.2 months, compared with 37.8 months in 2001
- Small law firms: Research by Syscap shows that the number of single partner solicitors firms in the UK fell by 3% last year, from 3,692 to 3,574. In the past five years the number of sole practitioners has fallen by 17% from 4,286 in 2007. Yet the total number of firms operating in the UK rose from 10,927 last year to 11,231 this year. The five year period has seen the total number of legal practices rise by 7% from 10,544 in 2007.
ECONOMY
- Recession: The UK recession has deepened after the output of the economy fell by 0.7% between April and June. The ONS did point to some more positive signs for the economy – Employment is growing “modestly”, it said, with 181,000 jobs created in the past three months. Output in the building/construction sector fell 5.2% in the second quarter compared with the first.Production industries, which include manufacturing, decreased by 1.3%, due in part to weak demand from the Eurozone, one of the UK’s biggest trading partners.
- Property prices: Land Registry shows London prices up 6.3% over last year but significant area variations such as Kensington and Chelsea up 12% and Barking and Dagenham down .1%
- Infrastructure: Think tank policy exchange puts the required level of investment in the UK’s energy, transport, water and ICT network infrastructure between now and 2020 at £434 billion
SOCIOLOGICAL
- Population growth: The population of England and Wales has grown by 3.7 million (7%) in a decade to 56.1m according to the 2011 Census.
- Wealth: Last year’s World Wealth Report found that 10.9 million people could be defined as high net worth with the figure up 8.3% on the previous year. It also noted that the number of super-rich individuals in Asia had surpassed those in Europe but continued to lag behind the 2,692 US families worth more than $100 million (£62 million).
TECHNOLOGY
- Mobile phone sales: Nokia sells more than 100 million mobile handsets every quarter but analysts Gartner says its global market share fell 5% cent to 25%. In the same period, rival HTC trebled its sales while market share of Apple’s iPhone climbed from 2.3% to 3.9%
- E-commerce: 55% of mobile commerce sales driven by iPad.
- Apps: Deloittes reports that the sector is worth £467 million pa. in recent years the sector has supported 35,299 jobs and contributed £2.2 billion to the UK.
- Rural: The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) wants the Government to achieve 5 Mbps minimum broadband speed for every rural company – without it, they estimate that around 100,000 businesses with a total turnover of £60 billion are being held back. The current targets are for 90% of the population to access speeds of 25 Mbps and above by 2015.
