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Crime (Sentences) Bill
Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the likely rise in the prison population as a result of changes to the parole system outlined in the Crime (Sentences) Bill; and if he will make a statement. [4675]
Mr. Maclean: The Crime (Sentences) Bill requires the courts to take account of the abolition of parole and the changes in early release arrangements when passing sentence, with a view to ensuring that, in general, prisoners should spend broadly the same length of time in prison as they do now.
Mr. Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to ensure that a practice direction is issued on completion of the Crime (Sentences) Bill on the appropriateness of sentence lengths; and if he will make a statement. [4677]
Mr. Maclean: It is for the Lord Chief Justice to determine whether to issue a practice direction.
Crime Statistics
Mr. Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answers of 5 November, Official Report, column 434, and 12 November, Official Report, column 119, if he will set out the statistical difference between the number of offenders found guilty or cautioned and the number of offences ending in a conviction or caution. [4977]
Mr. Maclean: The number of offenders found guilty or cautioned is a count of the number of occasions on which a finding of guilt is made or a caution administered. On each occasion, an offender may be found guilty of, or cautioned for, more than one offence. For reasons of practicality and cost effectiveness, routine Home Office statistics are offender based and relate to the principal offence--generally the one attracting the highest penalty.
Private Finance Initiative
Mr. Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information is collated centrally on (a) the long-term revenue commitments and (b) any other commitments arising as a result of private finance initiative projects agreed by (i) his Department and (ii) agencies accountable to his Department. [5083]
20 Nov 1996 : Column: 621
Mr. Howard: The Government response to the Treasury Committee report on the private finance initiative agreed the importance of collecting and monitoring information on future spending commitments arising from contracts under the PFI. Such information is now being collected. The response stated that aggregate projections of the level of expenditure that is expected to arise from signed contracts under the initiative would be published in the 1997-98 "Financial Statement and Budget Report."
Any other commitments specific to particular projects, including those incurred by the supplier, are monitored by managers responsible for ensuring that satisfactory service is received. Contingent liabilities are reported to Parliament.
Tote
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will allow the Horserace Totalisator Board to take bets on lotteries run outside the United Kingdom. [5546]
Mr. Kirkhope: We will shortly lay an order allowing the Tote to take bets on the outcome of foreign lotteries.
The Government are also supporting the private Member's Bill introduced in another place to allow the Tote to take fixed odds bets on non-sporting events.
Convictions and Cautions
Mr. Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list the number of crimes ending in a court conviction in each police force area of England and Wales in the year to June; [3634]
- (2) if he will list the number of crimes ending in a caution in each police force area of England and Wales in the year to June. [3635]
Mr. Maclean [holding answers 18 November 1996]: The information requested will not be available until autumn 1997.
Remand Prisoners
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department first became aware of the difficulties of calculating remissions for convicted prisoners originally held on remand. [3825]
Mr. Howard [holding answer 14 November 1996]: On four occasions since 1982, the courts upheld the Prison Service's approach to the complex sentence calculations required by section 67 of the Criminal Justice Act 1967.
The Prison Service proposed in July 1995 that work be undertaken to develop a simpler system of sentence calculation. That work led to the new arrangements for determining the effect on release dates of time spent on remand contained in the Crime (Sentences) Bill. This provides that in all cases the judge will determine, when passing sentence, how much remand time will count against the sentence.
20 Nov 1996 : Column: 622
Mr. Michael:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the number of crimes cleared up by the police in each police force area of England and Wales in the year to June. [3636]
Mr. Maclean
[holding answer 18 November 1996]: Statistics on clear-ups are published only on a calendar year basis. The latest available data relate to 1995 and were given in the reply to the hon. Member on 12 November, Official Report column 199.
Mr. Jim Cunningham:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what plans he has to adopt a knife code along the lines of that adopted in Coventry; [4106]
Mr. Maclean
[holding answers 18 November 1996]: My right hon. and learned Friend has given his full support to the voluntary knife code adopted by retailers in Coventry, and would support its introduction elsewhere. My right hon. and learned Friend has not discussed the code with the hon. Member for Blackburn.
Mr. Cunningham:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the extent to which crimes involving knives has fallen in Coventry since the knife code was introduced in the City. [4108]
Mr. Maclean
[holding answer 18 November 1996]: This information is not available centrally.
Mr. Cunningham:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes involving the use of knives were committed (a) nationally and (b) in the west midlands in each year since 1990; and what was the annual percentage change. [4105]
Mr. Maclean
[holding answer 18 November 1996]: For crimes recorded by the police, the information is not available centrally. The best estimate from the 1996 British crime survey is that, in 1995, there were about 160,000 incidents of wounding and robbery in which the offenders had--but did not necessarily use--a knife. Information for previous years covered by the survey--1992 and 1994--cannot reliably be compared.
Mr. Michael:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library (a) the raw data used to produce the first chart presented on page 25 of "Digest 3: Information on the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales" and (b) similar statistics with percentages for (i) 1995 and (ii) 1981. [4770]
Mr. Maclean
[holding answer 19 November 1996]: Information used to produce the first chart on page 25 of Digest 3 is presented in the table below. Information for 1995 and 1981 is not available in the form requested and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.
20 Nov 1996 : Column: 623
(2) What discussions he has had with the hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw) on the introduction of a knife code. [4107]
| Total numbers(27) | Percentage of offences committed | |
|---|---|---|
| Offences committed | 11,566.7 | 100 |
| Offences reported | 5,457.6 | 47 |
| Offences recorded | 3,089.6 | 27 |
| Offences cleared up | 571.4 | 4.9 |
| Offences resulting in a caution or conviction | 310.3 | 2.7 |
| Offences resulting in a conviction | 225.9 | 2.0 |
(27) Covers criminal damage; theft of a motor vehicle; theft from a motor vehicle (including attempts); bicycle theft; domestic burglary; wounding; robbery; theft from a person.
State Opening of Parliament
Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total cost of the police participation in the state opening of Parliament. [4691]
Mr. Maclean [holding answer 19 November 1996]: As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister stated in his reply to the hon. Member on 11 November Official Report, column 32, any additional costs of police staff who took part in the ceremony are not separately costed.
Sexual Offences (Prosecution)
Mr. Hutton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have taken place under section 12 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 since the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 came into operation. [4795]
Mr. Maclean [holding answer 19 November 1996]: Amendments to section 12 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 were implemented on 3 November 1994.
Information for prosecutions completed in 1995 is given in the table.
| Offence descriptions | Prosecutions |
|---|---|
| Buggery or attempted buggery | |
| By a male of a male under 16 | 48 |
| By a male aged 21 or over with a male aged 16 or 17 | 1 |
| By a male aged 18-20 with a male aged 16 or 17 | - |
| By a male aged 16 or 17 with a male aged 16 or over | - |
| By a male not included above | 7 |
| By a male with a female under 16 | 25 |
| By a male aged 21 or over with a female aged 16 or 17 | 2 |
| By a male aged 18-20 with a female aged 16 or 17 | - |
| By a male aged 16 or 17 with a female aged 16 or over | - |
| By a male with a female not included above | 19 |
| With an animal | 3 |
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