Robbery rose by 1% in the third quarter of last year, Home Office recorded crime figures for England and Wales showed.

But parallel figures from the British Crime Survey (BCS) - which ministers say is the most reliable indicator of crime trends - showed a 14% surge in theft from the person.

The number of thefts reported by people interviewed for the survey increased to 626,000 in the year to the end of September, up from 552,000 in the previous 12 months.

Vandalism also rose sharply in the survey, up 11% to 2,918,000 incidents.

Total recorded crime fell by 3% but drug offences increased 9%, in a trend previously blamed on a surge in warnings for cannabis possession.

Prime Minister Tony Blair congratulated police on the figures, noting that they showed a 7% reduction in what he termed the "most feared crime" - violence causing injury.

The Home Office described the BCS figures on theft from the person as an "apparent increase" which was "not statistically significant".

The overall number of crimes reported to the BCS was 11,138,000, up 4% on the previous year, which the Home Office also said was "not statistically significant".

Overall violent crime in the survey rose by 2% to 2,440,000, although within that total incidents involving injuries fell by 9%.

Domestic burglary reported to the survey fell by 4% to 709,000 and also dropped by 3% in recorded crime figures.