VIOLENT crimes such as robbery and sex offences are on the rise in Wiltshire, but crime in the county is increasing at a far lower rate than nationally.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics on Thursday showed that, in the year of March 2017 to March 2018, the number of robberies in the county rose by 30 per cent.

A spokesman for Wiltshire Police said, despite analysis, "it's not clear what the likely cause of the increase is", and said the force recorded 291 robberies last year.

Sexual offences increased by 11 per cent and theft increased by 10 per cent.

But the force only recorded a five per cent increase in crime based on the same period last year, compared to eight per cent regionally and 13 per cent nationally.

Crimes involving a knife or sharp instrument increased by three per cent, with 267 recorded last year, but is still far lower than the national increase of 16 per cent.

Police and Crime Commissioner Angus Macpherson said the "the actual number of knife-related crimes is still low in comparison to other areas in the UK", and said the force is "committed to breaking the culture behind knife crime".

And response times to non-emergency calls has improved after the force received complaints about its 101 service last year.

Following a £250,000 investment to increase staff numbers and improve training, response times rose from five minutes in April to June 2017, to 1.3 minutes in January to March this year.

Assistant Chief Constable Craig Holden said: “We recognise that our ability to answer 101 calls in the summer of 2017 was not acceptable – people deserve better and as a result a significant investment was made.

"This has resulted in a major improvement to our 101 call answering times which in turn help our response times, enabling us to improve our overall service to the people of Wiltshire.”

Wiltshire Police also reported a rise in 999 calls in the past year – nearly 90,000 compared to 77,000 – a 17 per cent increase.