A huge rise in mobile phone theft has boosted the recent surge in street crime figures, Home Office figures reveal.

Police figures show that over the last year 330,000 mobile phones were stolen, a number that rises to 470,000 in the British Crime Survey and new research among 15,000 11-15 year-olds reveal that as many as 550,000 thefts may have occurred in mid-2000 to mid-2001.

The bulk of the increase is accounted by teenagers - both as victims and offenders and Home Office minister John Denham visited sixth formers at a Southwark school on Tuesday to discuss their experiences of phone-related crime.

"A substantial chunk of the crimes are instances of playground bullying, with kids stealing from other kids in school or just outside the school gates," said a Home Office spokesman.

But the true extent of the problem remains unknown as there are no figures provided by either phone operators or insurers.

And, according to police figures, the rising phenomenon of "phone only" theft accounts for, at the very least, five per cent of a recent 13 per cent rise in the politically-charged category of robbery and street crime.

"In 1998/99, a relatively small proportion of robberies involved the theft of a phone - eight per cent on average. The proportion was most significant in the MPD (Metropolitan Police District) at the time (12 per cent). By 2000/01, the proportion had increased markedly in each force, and was as high as 36 per cent in the MPD. The picture is not dissimilar for thefts from the person. In 1998/99, 15 per cent of these offences on average involved a phone. By 2000/01, the proportion had increased markedly to 33 per cent," notes HO research study 235.

The researchers, Victoria Harrington and Pat Mayhew, suggest that "the 'robbery-less-phone' trend is now much shallower, with a levelling off in the past two years" and some of the published figures excluding mobile phone theft show that there has otherwise been a drop in robbery rates

"In the last year excluding phone robberies means that robberies FELL in the MPD and stayed the same in the West Midlands. On the basis of an estimated average figure, then, robbery might have fallen nationally in the region of minus-three per cent, instead of the 13 per cent increase," finds the report.

Soaring theft rates alongside higher rates of mobile phone ownership are fuelling demands that the industry make greater efforts to increase the security of phone handsets. A move that could slash higher and politically sensitive rises in street crime.

Ministers are trying to persuade the phone operators to install equipment which allows mobiles to be immobilised if stolen - a measure some networks are resisting.The Home Office wants companies to introduce measures which allow accounts to be cut off when customers pass on the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number of stolen handsets.

"We are focusing on the IMEI, which is a number that is already programmed into every phone. Three of the networks, Virgin, One to One and Orange, can already immobilise phones if they are given the number, effectively making it useless," a Home Office spokesman told PA news. "BT Cellnet and Vodafone can't do that and are refusing to put the technology in place. We think everyone in the industry needs to play their part in preventing their customers becoming victims of crime."