内容摘要：A leading criminologist says the increase was largely "a resourcing issue" brought about by cuts to police forces throughout the 2010s.

A leading criminologist says the increase was largely "a resourcing issue" brought about by cuts to police forces throughout the 2010s.

It added that it had urged the union to put that offer to its members.However, Ms Graham said: "After smearing these workers in public since January and telling them to accept a fair and reasonable offer that never existed, the council finally put a proposal in writing last week.

"True to form, the proposal came weeks late and was not in line with the ballpark offer discussed during Acas talks in May."- a point denied by the council.A spokesperson for the Labour-run local authority said the bin collection service needed to be transformed "to one that citizens of Birmingham deserve".

"We have made a fair and reasonable offer that we have asked Unite to put to their members and we are awaiting their response," they said.The ballot was not a response to the latest offer made through the conciliation service Acas, they added.

On-and-off strike action began on 6 January with

, and the union began an indefinite all-out strikeIt said the data obtained by the BBC refers to all evidence that is either missing or unavailable when a defendant is going to trial after being charged.

And this could include situations where police cannot find an expert witness or may not be able to obtain a required medical statement.A number of recent reports have raised serious concerns about police storage of evidence.

as a result of the fast growth in digital evidence., found three quarters of lawyers it surveyed had worked on a criminal conviction where evidence had been lost, destroyed or contaminated. Almost half claimed this had happened on multiple occasions.