Violent crime and robberies rose last year, as did the risk of becoming a victim of crime, while the overall number of offences is slightly down, the Government said today.

Four out of 10 people thought crime had gone up in their local area, according to the annual British Crime Survey, based on interviews with more than 40,000 people.

Drink and drug-fuelled crime has also seen a rise, with over one million victims believing that the offenders were under the influence of alcohol. There were 462 offences of causing death by dangerous driving or while under the influence of drink or drugs.

The figure is 7 per cent up on last year and is the highest recorded total for 30 years.

A separate analysis of the impact the controversial licensing reforms have had on crime showed an increase in offences during night-time hours in the year after 24-hour drinking was introduced.

There were 940,522 violent crimes and cases of disorder and criminal damage committed from 6pm to 6am in the year after pubs and clubs were given permission to open later, compared with 933,701 in the previous year.

Overall the BCS showed that crime was stable in the year to March, although vandalism was up 10 per cent and violent crime rose by 5 per cent, although the Home Office said the rise was not statistically significant.

There were 101,370 robberies in recorded crime figures for England and Wales - a rise of 3 per cent - the highest level for three years.

On the day that Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, admitted that she had experimented with the cannabis when she was a student, figures showed that drugs offences were up 9 per cent, to 194,300 cases.

They included a 9 per cent rise in possession of cannabis to 130,000 incidents, which Home Office experts said was due to the police handing out more warnings to users following the drug’s reclassification to class C.

Possession of other controlled drugs also rose, showing a 12 per cent rise to more than 36,600 cases. The total number of recorded crimes fell by 2 per cent to 5.4 million.

“One of the biggest challenges we face is that public perceptions of crime levels remain high,” said Ms Smith.

“We realise that anti-social behaviour is a major concern for many communities and I want to reassure people that we are taking the issue seriously.”

The only BCS category to show a statistically significant change was a 10 per cent increase in vandalism, the Home Office said.

A second set of figures based on offences reported to police showed a two percent fall in crime.

Talking about the rise of crime during drinking hours the Home Office said the number of more serious violent crimes fell after the licensing reforms overall but there were increases between 3am and 6am.

The report said: “The rise from 3am and up to 6am is likely to reflect the change in the closing hours of licensed premises and the increased numbers of people in a public place at these times, including the police, with greater resources being placed on the streets to deal with disorder.”

Critics of the licensing reforms are likely to seize on the figures as evidence that later opening hours has simply pushed drink-related violence to a later time slot.

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