Figures to show true knife stats

The annual crime figures will contain a new set of data on knife attacks in every force in England and Wales.

Serious violent crimes involving a blade have previously been bundled with other attacks, but since April last year police officers have recorded them separately in light of growing public concern.

In the last week there have been a series of horrific stabbing deaths, with four people killed in a 24-hour spell in London alone.

Among the wider crime figures, the British Crime Survey (BCS) is expected to show a rise in the number of house burglaries in 2007/08.

Separate police-recorded crime statistics are likely to show a significant rise in drugs offences last year.

The figures come on the day Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is publishing a new package of police reforms, including a resurrection of plans to merge police forces.

A similar scheme was ditched two years ago but this document is expected to propose allowing voluntary mergers between neighbouring forces.

Leaked copies of the Green Paper had included guidelines for police to respond to emergency calls within three hours and to less urgent incidents such as burglaries within three days.

But these targets were understood to have been deleted from the final version, leading shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve to claim the Government was "in disarray".