---

Crime and Detection

Sir Irvine Patnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for (a) West Yorkshire, (b) West Midlands, (c) Tyne and Wear, (d) Greater Manchester, (e) South Yorkshire and (f) Merseyside in 1994-95 and 1995-96 (i) the crime figures and (ii) the detection rate by category of crime. [14809]

Mr. Maclean : The available information is contained in the following table:

Notifiable offences recorded by the police and clear ups

Offence group	Number of offences		Percentage cleared up(10)(11)
	1994-95	1995-96	1994	1995
West Yorkshire
Violence against the person	8,997	8,520	81	82
Sexual offences	1,387	1,530	84	93
Robbery	2,910	3,497	28	25
Burglary	86,332	91,389	15	16
Theft and handling stolen goods	131,233	128,306	18	19
Fraud and forgery	5,411	4,876	57	55
Criminal damage	44,795	45,691	12	13
Other offences	2,766	2,948	100	100
Total	283,831	286,757	20	21
West Midlands
Violence against the person	9,714	8,528	70	66
Sexual offences	1,325	1,148	71	66
Robbery	87,571	8,081	19	18
Burglary	7,201	91,842	27	30
Theft and handling stolen goods	140,812	152,187	23	21
Fraud and forgery	7,892	7,573	31	27
Criminal damage	52,605	54,329	13	11
Other offences	1,866	1,973	95	94
Total	308,986	325,661	25	24
Northumbria (including Tyne and Wear)
Violence against the person	6,111	5,482	74	73
Sexual offences	702	545	77	75
Robbery	1,234	1,653	23	26
Burglary	55,398	51,513	14	14
Theft and handling stolen goods	81,073	77,275	24	25
Fraud and forgery	2,935	2,447	44	43
Criminal damage	51,381	51,256	16	17
Other offences	995	1,060	98	100
Total	199,829	191,231	22	23
Greater Manchester
Violence against the person	8,609	9,610	74	70
Sexual offences	1,192	1,369	74	73
Robbery	5,229	5,938	29	22
Burglary	89,092	86,474	32	19
Theft and handling stolen goods	152,603	149,500	33	23
Fraud and forgery	7,726	5,853	70	48
Criminal damage	65,339	70,384	19	16
Other offences	2,544	2,761	98	97
Total	332,334	331,889	34	24
South Yorkshire
Violence against the person	4,957	4,842	82	81
Sexual offences	647	634	88	81
Robbery	1,004	1,266	31	27
Burglary	48,084	46,555	20	22
Theft and handling stolen goods	69,827	72,610	23	22
Fraud and forgery	2,876	2,557	40	35
Criminal damage	25,084	28,441	16	15
Other offences	1,345	1,203	99	100
Total	153,824	158,108	24	24
Merseyside
Violence against the person	7,726	8,162	63	67
Sexual offences	857	889	77	82
Robbery	2,090	3,103	17	20
Burglary	32,927	33,948	27	19
Theft and handling stolen goods	67,372	75,960	35	26
Fraud and forgery	3,044	4,687	70	64
Criminal damage	23,033	27,055	18	15
Other offences	1,740	2,109	96	99
Total	138,789	155,913	33	27

(10) Excluding criminal damage value £20 and under.

(11) Published on a calendar year basis only.

12 Feb 1997 : Column: 205

Metropolitan Police Stations

Mr. Keith Hill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which police stations (a) have been closed and (b) opened and on what dates in the Metropolitan police area in the last five years for which information is available; and which police stations (i) will be opened and (ii) will close in the next 12 months. [15139]

Mr. Maclean: The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis has provided the following information:

Year	Stations/offices closed	Stations/offices opened
1992	Kings Cross Road	Archway
	Islington	Canary Wharf
	Forest Gate	Brick Lane
	Bow Street	Chalkhill
		Islington
		Forest Gate
		Charing Cross
1993	Rochester Row	Walworth
	Gerald Road	Belgravia
	Carter Street	Ashford
		Marks Gate
		North Greenford
		Wapping
1994	Bexleyheath	Bexleyheath
	Erith	Doran Walk
		Haggerston
		Bluebeat
		Little Ilford
		Broadwater Farm
1995	Ilford	Ilford
	Roman Road	Bethnel Green
	Jesus Green	Harefield
	Harefield	Cray
		Wornington Green
		Dalston
		Erith
1996	Bethnel Green	Hoe Street
	Leman Street
	Caledonian Road
	Wornington Green

Police stations which were closed and re-opened after being completely renovated and/or extended in the last five years

Year	Station
1992	Fulham
1993	Barkingside
1996	Hammersmith Hounslow

Stations/offices to close in the next 12 months	Stations/offices to open in the next 12 months
West Hendon	Archway
Isle of Dogs (old)	Colindale
Mill Hill	Kings Cross
Vine Street	Isle of Dogs
	Walhamstow Market
	West End Central

12 Feb 1997 : Column: 206

Young Offender Institutions

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what plans he has to withhold access to card-operated telephones from young offenders held at (a) Her Majesty's young offenders institution, Colchester and (b) other young offender institutions; [15155]

(2) what plans he has to censor mail sent to young offenders held at (a) HM YOI Colchester and (b) other young offender institutions. [15154]

Miss Widdecombe: For the first two stages of the regime at Colchester young offender institution, young offenders will be allowed a supervised weekly call to their family on an official telephone. In the third and final stage, access to card-operated telephones will be as it is in other young offender institutions. In addition, young offenders will be allowed welfare calls at the discretion of staff. Staff will read all mail sent to young offenders at Colchester, with the exception of legal correspondence.

There are no plans to change the access to card-operated telephones or the arrangements for reading inmates' correspondence in other young offender institutions.

Illegal Immigrants

Mr. David Nicholson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of persons who come to the United Kingdom as visitors but stay on as illegal immigrants in each of the last three years; and if he will take measures to provide the maximum flexibility in permitting visitor entry, with the maximum checks on overstaying. [15095]

Mr. Kirkhope: The information available relates to all overstayers who were issued with a notice of intention to deport. There were 4,850 such persons in 1994, 4,660 in 1995 and 5,600--provisional figure--in 1996. All persons seeking entry as visitors are given leave to enter providing they satisfy the immigration rules, and enforcement action is taken against those who breach their conditions of leave to enter by, for example, overstaying.

Crime Statistics

Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what was the crime clear-up rate and annual percentage change in each year since 1979 in each region; and if he will make a statement; [15013]

(2) what was the clear-up rate for all crimes in (a) England and (b) Wales in (i) 1979, (ii) 1983, (iii) 1987 and (iv) in each year since 1992 for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [15016]

Mr. Maclean: The information requested is given in the tables.

Percentage change on previous year in number of notifiable offences cleared up by police force area

Police area	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987
Avon and Somerset	-6	8	5	12	-4	7	4	-7	13
Bedfordshire	14	-9	1	2	1	7	-4	-13	5
Cambridgeshire	-30	44	12	-32	-2	-1	10	-8	-1
Cheshire	6	15	3	4	3	-2	-4	-2	2
Cleveland	-8	-9	21	6	-2	-8	2	5	5
Cumbria	1	-23	4	8	7	24	8	-5	4
Derbyshire	10	-10	29	-1	4	19	-5	-15	-5
Devon and Cornwall	-1	8	4	17	2	3	14	-8	2
Dorset	-11	4	-6	16	-1	9	5	-8	12
Durham	-2	7	10	1	-5	4	17	-10	7
Essex	-2	5	5	3	5	-3	13	-7	-4
Gloucestershire	-4	-1	17	3	-4	-1	5	-11	49
Greater Manchester	5	5	12	8	-8	-19	25	-6	-3
Hampshire	-1	-8	2	0	-2	12	12	-6	7
Hertfordshire	6	-22	4	18	-5	11	4	-6	-3
Humberside	3	-2	11	14	-3	1	18	-18	18
Kent	21	-6	-2	10	2	1	4	-12	2
Lancashire	7	-2	2	2	3	6	0	4	11
Leicestershire	-6	16	3	1	3	-1	9	1	6
Lincolnshire	3	9	11	5	-3	-24	32	-10	12
City of London	0	-9	4	0	-5	-3	-5	-10	39
Merseyside	-2	7	-6	25	5	7	-16	16	12
Metropolitan police	-5	4	-9	3	3	10	6	-5	-3
Norfolk	-9	12	10	1	11	0	7	-6	6
Northamptonshire	-7	4	8	6	8	-2	3	-13	35
Northumbria	4	8	4	14	-1	4	8	-10	13
North Yorkshire	-8	-9	11	15	-7	5	-10	3	14
Nottinghamshire	4	4	27	-21	-16	-19	22	-4	7
South Yorkshire	-4	2	19	8	7	-5	7	-2	4
Staffordshire	-2	-8	17	8	2	10	9	-7	-4
Suffolk	9	-10	7	-5	4	13	3	1	15
Surrey	-2	-24	-12	8	9	0	5	10	2
Sussex	-1	-7	1	13	-11	6	-2	-16	5
Thames Valley	5	-14	13	9	9	9	4	-5	-12
Warwickshire	-2	-2	11	11	1	2	4	-1	6
West Mercia	-1	-1	14	12	11	-4	4	-5	2
West Midlands	5	-1	10	17	8	-9	1	8	25
West Yorkshire	-27	24	5	11	8	-3	1	-7	9
Wiltshire	-11	4	8	5	7	6	-3	-5	-5
England	-2	2	6	7	1	1	6	-4	6
Dyfed-Powys	-5	-6	6	10	1	19	-2	0	4
Gwent	1	-5	0	19	1	1	13	-13	7
North Wales	-2	-7	8	6	5	-2	-2	-24	43
South Wales	-3	5	9	13	1	0	2	1	3
Wales	-3	-1	7	12	2	2	3	-7	10
Total	-2	2	6	7	1	1	5	-5	6

12 Feb 1997 : Column: 207

12 Feb 1997 : Column: 207

Police area	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995
Avon and Somerset	16	-7	10	1	-19	3	15	2
Bedfordshire	31	-10	-14	-7	7	4	-6	-2
Cambridgeshire	-3	21	21	24	-15	-6	-8	-16
Cheshire	17	0	11	-2	-13	-9	11	1
Cleveland	5	2	-17	43	2	-22	-27	26
Cumbria	6	1	4	24	-8	0	-7	7
Derbyshire	-22	10	10	10	-7	-2	-2	-8
Devon and Cornwall	-4	-2	7	8	-35	52	-4	-5
Dorset	0	21	1	27	-22	3	-4	-10
Durham	3	1	-5	9	2	-1	2	-15
Essex	-11	6	13	25	-3	11	5	-17
Gloucestershire	3	-5	11	42	-27	-15	19	3
Greater Manchester	1	3	22	26	2	-10	-10	-32
Hampshire	-7	3	20	7	-1	-5	-1	-1
Hertfordshire	-7	4	-25	37	-18	-19	8	17
Humberside	8	5	21	-3	-21	-23	4	5
Kent	9	-6	-4	26	37	-4	8	-7
Lancashire	13	-26	32	4	0	-3	-12	3
Leicestershire	-5	1	21	-1	12	-4	5	-7
Lincolnshire	8	9	15	23	-8	1	-20	19
City of London	13	-12	4	3	-12	-9	15	-6
Merseyside	-9	-7	0	11	-5	-11	-16	-10
Metropolitan police	3	6	7	9	-4	3	20	7
Norfolk	11	8	14	16	-3	-22	7	-17
Northamptonshire	6	-3	3	6	0	-8	8	-9
Northumbria	-6	0	13	-4	-53	10	6	-3
North Yorkshire	3	-5	47	2	-4	-2	-14	-5
Nottinghamshire	9	4	26	-13	7	8	-9	-17
South Yorkshire	1	-1	16	-6	-18	-14	21	-3
Staffordshire	7	1	12	13	-7	-3	0	2
Suffolk	-8	3	12	-1	17	-9	-13	-6
Surrey	-1	3	1	2	3	-9	33	-3
Sussex	-6	14	8	2	7	-6	-2	17
Thames Valley	4	7	-2	6	-5	7	1	0
Warwickshire	6	-2	9	1	8	-8	6	-5
West Mercia	2	-7	41	-7	4	-13	4	-8
West Midlands	4	-11	6	-3	-6	2	-11	-3
West Yorkshire	4	-4	12	3	-6	-28	8	1
Wiltshire	0	31	17	9	-1	-5	-7	-15
England	2	0	11	8	-7	-4	1	-4
Dyfed-Powys	10	-10	14	25	14	-18	-9	-3
Gwent	-7	1	21	13	1	-2	2	-9
North Wales	-7	2	0	6	3	6	-3	-19
South Wales	-1	5	9	-6	8	-7	-18	17
Wales	-2	2	10	3	7	-5	-10	1
Total	2	0	11	7	-6	-5	0	-4

12 Feb 1997 : Column: 209

12 Feb 1997 : Column: 209

Clear up rates by police force area

Police area	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987
Avon and Somerset	43	42	39	40	39	38	36	29	30
Bedfordshire	48	44	41	39	39	38	37	29	29
Cambridgeshire	47	55	56	40	40	39	40	37	35
Cheshire	58	59	53	52	51	49	46	43	40
Cleveland	51	45	48	46	45	37	37	34	34
Cumbria	56	47	44	43	44	49	49	42	46
Derbyshire	50	45	49	46	49	54	55	48	45
Devon and Cornwall	46	45	42	45	45	44	46	40	39
Dorset	46	46	40	41	38	40	40	34	36
Durham	52	49	49	45	42	39	45	39	42
Essex	42	43	43	40	41	40	43	37	35
Gloucestershire	51	44	46	42	41	37	35	30	38
Greater Manchester	45	43	41	40	36	27	32	27	27
Hampshire	46	42	38	34	33	35	37	33	34
Hertfordshire	54	46	45	47	49	51	52	46	44
Humberside	45	40	40	41	41	39	40	30	32
Kent	50	47	45	41	42	40	39	34	33
Lancashire	56	55	50	45	47	47	47	45	46
Leicestershire	54	54	50	46	47	44	45	44	45
Lincolnshire	60	59	57	52	49	35	42	36	37
City of London	21	20	20	20	18	18	17	13	19
Merseyside	42	42	34	40	42	41	35	37	43
Metropolitan police	21	20	17	16	17	17	18	16	16
Norfolk	47	46	42	37	41	41	41	36	36
Northamptonshire	48	45	45	41	45	41	39	31	41
Northumbria	53	52	50	49	48	45	46	40	44
North Yorkshire	51	47	44	43	41	38	31	32	34
Nottinghamshire	51	49	55	43	38	30	35	33	34
South Yorkshire	51	47	50	49	49	41	48	43	43
Staffordshire	51	47	49	49	47	48	52	44	42
Suffolk	57	52	51	45	44	47	45	41	45
Surrey	47	39	33	31	34	33	34	34	34
Sussex	53	50	47	45	40	38	36	30	32
Thames Valley	45	39	41	39	41	41	40	35	31
Warwickshire	46	43	40	39	38	36	38	36	34
West Mercia	49	45	44	43	48	45	45	41	42
West Midlands	37	33	32	33	36	30	30	29	36
West Yorkshire	37	43	41	42	47	42	42	38	39
Wiltshire	42	43	41	40	43	42	39	36	36
England	41	39	37	36	37	34	35	31	32
Dyfed-Powys	62	58	57	57	57	58	55	51	51
Gwent	60	57	54	57	55	53	55	50	53
North Wales	59	54	51	50	51	46	45	32	43
South Wales	46	45	46	47	47	43	44	39	39
Wales	52	50	49	50	50	47	47	40	43
Total	41	40	38	37	37	35	35	32	33

12 Feb 1997 : Column: 211

12 Feb 1997 : Column: 211

Clear up rates by police force area

Police area	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995
Avon and Somerset	36	33	29	24	17	17	21	23
Bedfordshire	39	34	22	19	20	21	22	22
Cambridgeshire	34	38	38	36	27	25	25	19
Cheshire	50	52	50	41	29	26	30	31
Cleveland	37	36	25	33	32	27	19	25
Cumbria	51	49	43	40	37	38	37	40
Derbyshire	38	37	32	28	22	21	21	20
Devon and Cornwall	38	36	32	29	18	25	27	27
Dorset	39	42	35	41	32	33	30	28
Durham	44	42	34	30	30	30	32	30
Essex	32	32	29	32	29	32	36	33
Gloucestershire	39	36	33	35	24	20	24	27
Greater Manchester	29	30	32	36	35	34	34	24
Hampshire	34	32	32	28	26	26	27	28
Hertfordshire	43	44	30	33	26	21	24	28
Humberside	36	35	37	32	23	16	17	19
Kent	36	32	25	23	27	25	29	26
Lancashire	50	40	44	40	37	35	33	34
Leicestershire	43	40	36	29	30	28	30	29
Lincolnshire	42	42	43	46	39	37	32	39
City of London	25	20	21	20	20	22	27	23
Merseyside	45	45	44	45	42	39	33	27
Metropolitan police	17	17	17	17	16	17	22	25
Norfolk	40	40	37	37	34	28	34	31
Northamptonshire	46	43	35	31	30	27	31	28
Northumbria	44	40	40	35	17	20	22	23
North Yorkshire	39	35	40	36	33	30	25	23
Nottinghamshire	38	35	35	27	26	29	28	23
South Yorkshire	47	43	44	36	26	20	24	24
Staffordshire	45	43	39	37	30	29	31	32
Suffolk	44	43	41	37	39	37	35	34
Surrey	34	33	27	23	22	20	30	31
Sussex	30	31	26	23	23	24	24	28
Thames Valley	34	33	26	22	19	21	22	23
Warwickshire	39	35	29	24	23	21	24	25
West Mercia	45	39	46	35	34	29	29	28
West Midlands	42	39	36	31	27	27	25	24
West Yorkshire	43	38	34	28	25	18	20	21
Wiltshire	37	46	44	40	37	35	36	32
England	35	33	31	29	25	25	26	26
Dyfed-Powys	53	52	50	50	53	50	53	57
Gwent	54	54	51	47	44	45	47	50
North Wales	42	44	40	36	33	36	39	32
South Wales	37	39	36	29	30	28	24	29
Wales	42	43	40	35	35	34	32	34
Total	35	34	32	29	26	25	26	26

12 Feb 1997 : Column: 211

12 Feb 1997 : Column: 213

---