Police said revelations about Jimmy Savile had encouraged other victims of sexual offences to come forward

Violent crime surged by 16 per cent last year and rape levels are at their highest ever level, official figures revealed yesterday.

The number of violent attacks reported to police was 699,800 – almost 2,000 every day.

There were also 24,043 rapes and 48,934 other sexual offences recorded by police in the year to September 2014, the Office for National Statistics said. In total, sexual offences rose 22 per cent.

Home Office officials put the rise down in part to the ‘Jimmy Savile effect’, with the revelations about the paedophile and other high-profile figures encouraging victims to come forward with crimes that previously went unreported.

The ONS figures come at the same time as a separate set of statistics, from the Crime Survey for England and Wales, revealed an 11 per cent fall in crime to seven million incidents.

The result of the survey, which questions around 35,000 households, is the lowest estimate of crime since it began in 1981.

Homicides in England and Wales were at their lowest level since 1977, at 482. It is thought the ONS findings on sexual offences may also have been influenced by better recording by the police – who have been under greater scrutiny following a row over claims they had been fiddling figures.

The ONS figures are issued quarterly, with the previous release showing around 22,000 rapes in the year to June, which was then the highest level on record.

There were 5,401 obscene publications and protected sexual material offences recorded by the police in the year to September, a 36 per cent rise.

This is largely due to an increase in offences related to the making and distribution of indecent photographs, including those of children, via the internet or mobile phones. The ONS said police claim to be giving more attention to child sexual exploitation and this is likely to have led to more of these offences being identified.

In the year to September the police recorded almost 500 rapes a week – or some 24,043 over the 12 months

Overall, police recorded crime showed no change from the previous year – at 3.7million offences.

The College of Policing has introduced a new code of ethics which included changes to crime recording. It came after watchdogs raised fears that police were not logging offences properly.

Chief Constable Jeff Farrar, the national policing lead for crime recording, said the spike in crime ‘is largely due to a renewed police focus on the quality of recording and a greater willingness from victims to come forward’.

It said there were seven million crimes in the 12 months to September – down from 7.9 million in the previous year. This is the lowest level of crime in 30 years.

David Cameron this morning welcomes the fall in crime. He said: 'It's encouraging to see that crime is at its lowest level since records began in 1981. The police are doing a great job.'

Until recently, police-recorded crime figures had been showing year-on-year reductions.

The stagnation in the overall figure comes after concerns were raised about the poor quality of the way police record crimes, prompting the UK Statistics Authority to remove the figures' official gold-standard status.

The Home Secretary has overseen a fall in crime despite cutting the police budget by 20 per cent since 2010

The Crime Survey for England and Wales, which measures people's experience of crime, revealed an 11 per cent fall in crime

Crime Prevention Minister Lynne Featherstone said: 'Police reform is working and crime is down by more than 20 per cent under this Government, according to the independent Crime Survey for England and Wales.

'There are now 2.4 million fewer crimes per year than when the coalition Government took office, and crime has fallen 63 per cent since its peak in 1995. This is good news for a safer England and Wales.

'In 2013, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary to carry out an inspection of police crime recording in all forces, and expects chief constables and police and crime commissioners to act on its recommendations.

'We are already seeing the benefits of HMIC's scrutiny in more accurate crime recording. In addition, more victims of sexual offences and violent offences are coming forward - this is something we welcome.