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WPC Yvonne Fletcher

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consultations he has had with (a) Lieutenant Colonel George Styles and (b) Dr. Hugh Thomas, former chief consultant surgeon to the British Army in Northern Ireland, and (c) Professor Bernard Knight, on the circumstances of the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher. [21600]

Mr. Howard: None. The investigation of crime is a matter for the police.

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the actions taken by (a) his Department and (b) the Metropolitan police in

21 Mar 1997 : Column: 938

respect of the contents of the Channel 4 film, "Murder in St. James", broadcast in April 1996 concerning the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher. [21599]

Mr. Howard: My officials viewed the programme and had various consultations about its contents. My right hon. Friend the Minister of State responded to the allegations made in it in the Adjournment debate initiated by the hon. Member on 8 May 1996, and he and I have answered various questions asked by the hon. Member and letters from other hon. Members and members of the public. The metropolitan police reviewed the contents of the programme as part of their continuing investigation into the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher. They remain satisfied with the findings of the inquest that the shot that killed her was fired from the Libyan People's Bureau.

21 Mar 1997 : Column: 939

Albanian Nationals

Mr. David Nicholson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what instructions he has given to the immigration authorities for discretionary treatment of Albanian nationals currently present in the United Kingdom; what estimate he has made of the number of Albanian nationals who are currently in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement. [21772]

Mr. Kirkhope: We are urgently reviewing the situation in Albania, in consultation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Pending the outcome of this review, instructions have been given that action on all outstanding Albanian asylum claims should be frozen and that any removal directions for Albanians to Albania should be suspended.

Statistics on the number of Albanians currently present in the United Kingdom are not available.

Prison Service (Expenditure)

Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the total expenditure on the Prison Service in each of the last five years; what is projected expenditure for the next three years; and if he will make a statement. [21584]

Miss Widdecombe: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. Alex Carlile, dated 21 March 1997:

The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent question about total expenditure on the Prison Service in each of the last five years and projects expenditure for the next three years.
Expenditure for the years 1991-92 to 1995-96 was as follows:
1991-92 £1,462.1 million
1991-93 £1,470.3 million
1993-94 £1,508.8 million
1994-95 £1,597.9 million
1995-96 £1,666.9 million.

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For the current and the next three years the projected expenditure is:
1996-97 £1,642.3 million (voted provision)
1997-98 £1,756.8 million
1998-99 £1,707.3 million
1999-00 £1,829.3 million.

Prison Population

Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the percentage increase in the prison population for each of the last 60 months for which figures are available; what increases he estimates will take place in each of the next five years; and if he will make a statement. [21585]

Miss Widdecombe: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. Alex Carlile, dated 21 March 1997:

The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent question about the prison population.

I will write to you later.

Crime (Conviction Rates)

Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the (a) number of convictions, (b) conviction rate and (c) clear-up rate, for each category of crime, in each region, for each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [21586]

Mr. Maclean: Information on the number of convictions and the conviction rate for the years 1991, 1993 and 1995--latest available--is given in tables A, B and C. The provision of data for other years would involve disproportionate cost.

Information on clear-up rates for 1995 and 1996 is given in tables D and E. Figures for earlier years are published annually in chapter 9 of "Regional Trends"; copies of which are available in the Library.

21 Mar 1997 : Column: 939

Table A: Number of offenders convicted and conviction rate(15) for indictable offences by offence group and region 1991

Region		Violence against the person	Sexual offences	Burglary	Robbery	Theft and handling stolen goods	Fraud and forgery	Criminal damage	Drug offences	Other excluding motoring offences	Motoring offences	Total indictable offences
North	Convictions	3,389	346	3,759	255	9,224	1,109	555	862	1,793	746	22,038
	Rate (per cent.)	56.5	61.7	64.7	66.6	69.9	70.7	56.5	80.0	58.0	78.3	65.5
Yorkshire and Humberside	Convictions	5,615	576	5,739	459	14,273	2,112	1,047	1,583	3,404	1,108	35,916
	Rate (per cent.)	60.3	64.1	71.2	64.5	74.6	79.7	68.9	78.9	63.5	82.4	70.4
East Midlands	Convictions	4,804	462	4,174	362	10,057	1,611	648	920	2,179	1,245	26,462
	Rate (per cent.)	54.4	59.1	66.3	61.1	70.6	69.7	52.8	76.1	58.1	74.6	64.7
East Anglia	Convictions	1,731	186	1,571	119	4,657	775	496	754	913	643	11,845
	Rate (per cent.)	63.5	60.4	72.7	55.3	78.1	74.0	78.2	83.3	65.1	89.3	73.7
South East	Convictions	12,070	1,848	11,795	1,802	41,378	7,510	3,204	10,619	9,732	2,746	102,704
	Rate (per cent.)	53.6	64.0	70.0	61.5	74.1	75.9	63.9	84.9	65.6	76.4	69.9
Greater London(16)	Convictions	5,780	1,064	5,008	1,190	19,904	3,877	1,495	6,521	5,288	1,045	51,172
	Rate (per cent.)	52.0	64.4	71.9	61.8	78.1	80.7	62.6	89.5	68.7	85.5	72.5
Rest of South East	Convictions	6,290	784	6,787	612	21,474	3,633	1,709	4,098	4,444	1,701	51,532
	Rate (per cent.)	55.2	63.4	68.6	61.0	70.8	71.3	65.1	78.4	62.3	71.8	67.5
South West	Convictions	3,629	402	3,431	240	10,110	1,611	641	1,499	2,158	996	24,717
	Rate (per cent.)	55.6	55.4	67.4	54.5	71.8	72.4	62.4	81.5	63.9	77.5	67.5
West Midlands	Convictions	6,160	687	5,180	665	13,129	2,043	1,756	1,634	4,110	1,378	36,742
	Rate (per cent.)	56.5	64.6	69.9	61.6	71.7	77.7	61.8	85.0	58.2	80.9	66.9
North West	Convictions	6.225	658	7,377	749	21,749	3,093	861	4,179	7,610	1,644	54,145
	Rate (per cent.)	55.9	58.7	72.9	60.5	77.1	80.1	82.2	81.0	68.2	82.9	72.2
England	Convictions	43,623	5,165	43,026	4,651	124,577	19,864	9,208	22,050	31,899	10,506	314,569
	Rate (per cent.)	56.0	61.9	69.6	61.3	73.7	75.8	64.4	82.8	63.8	79.3	69.1
Wales	Convictions	3,528	360	3,063	190	8,967	1,308	990	1,405	2,471	757	23,039
	Rate (per cent.)	55.4	63.6	66.8	67.1	72.0	75.2	61.2	85.0	64.0	82.3	67.7

(15) Number of offenders convicted at all courts as a proportion (per cent.) of defendants prosecuted at magistrates' courts.

(16) Includes the Metropolitan and City of London police force areas.

21 Mar 1997 : Column: 941

Table B: Number of offenders convicted and conviction rate(17) for indictable offences by offence group and region 1993

Region		Violence against the person	Sexual offences	Burglary	Robbery	Theft and handling stolen goods	Fraud and forgery	Criminal damage	Drug offences	Other excluding motoring offences	Motoring offences	Total indictable offences
North	Convictions	3,139	292	3,323	302	9,667	1,106	610	1,219	2,356	826	22,850
	Rate (per cent.)	50.7	58.5	60.8	58.9	69.5	72.5	52.7	79.4	59.9	70.2	63.6
Yorkshire and Humberside	Convictions	4,626	422	5,093	538	13,042	1,572	1,457	2,185	3,989	853	33,777
	Rate (per cent.)	54.7	56.5	64.7	61.2	69.7	70.4	58.5	79.2	58.5	72.8	64.8
East Midlands	Convictions	4,047	379	3,636	376	9,124	1,522	558	1,182	2,165	1,182	24,171
	Rate (per cent.)	47.5	49.8	60.3	52.7	69.1	73.0	54.2	79.6	53.7	73.9	61.2
East Anglia	Convictions	1,635	166	1,440	120	4.505	776	382	755	1.025	621	11,425
	Rate (per cent.)	56.6	65.4	69.9	71.9	76.5	80.6	75.3	85.1	62.5	83.1	71.4
South East	Convictions	8,830	1,327	10,296	1,753	35,963	6,025	2,816	8,854	11,159	3,173	90,196
	Rate (per cent.)	41.1	52.3	64.0	51.2	70.4	70.4	56.3	79.9	57.9	65.9	69.9
Greater London(18)	Convictions	3,889	648	4,699	1,197	17,558	3,111	1,312	5,232	7,108	1,691	46,445
	Rate (per cent.)	34.5	47.3	64.1	48.6	70.6	69.2	52.6	79.6	60.2	63.9	61.7
Rest of South East	Convictions	4,941	679	5,597	556	18,405	2,914	1,504	3,622	4,051	1,482	43,751
	Rate (per cent.)	48.3	58.1	63.9	58.0	70.2	71.6	60.1	80.3	54.4	68.4	64.3
South West	Convictions	2,563	331	2,900	244	8,685	1,301	609	1,440	2,061	780	20,914
	Rate (per cent.)	47.7	57.1	62.5	55.7	71.9	75.2	62.6	84.6	48.6	75.5	68.8
West Midlands	Convictions	5,122	513	4,519	646	11,308	1,490	1,408	1,417	4,472	1,134	32,029
	Rate (per cent.)	50.5	58.8	63.4	55.5	67.7	73.3	58.7	76.9	55.7	70.4	61.7
North West	Convictions	5,418	554	6,272	899	20,852	2,507	731	3,519	7,912	1,528	50,192
	Rate (per cent.)	49.8	52.5	70.1	59.7	78.3	75.2	74.5	85.0	62.3	81.8	69.7
England	Convictions	35,380	3,984	37,479	4,878	113,156	16,299	8,571	20,571	35,139	10,097	285,554
	Rate (per cent.)	47.9	54.5	64.4	55.4	71.5	72.6	59.0	80.9	57.9	72.0	64.4
Wales	Convictions	3,496	344	2,793	216	8,481	1,207	804	1,330	2,639	720	22,030
	Rate (per cent.)	47.6	56.3	60.7	61.9	70.8	72.0	55.2	80.8	59.9	70.9	62.6

(17) Number of offenders convicted at all courts as a proportion (per cent.) of defendants prosecuted at magistrates' courts.

(18) Includes the Metropolitan and City of London Police Force Areas.

Table C: Number of offenders convicted and conviction rate(19) for indictable offences by offence group and region 1995

Region		Violence against the person	Sexual offences	Burglary	Robbery	Theft and handling stolen goods	Fraud and forgery	Criminal damage	Drug offences	Other (excluding motoring offences)	Motoring offences	Total indictable offences
North	Convictions	2,646	342	3,421	352	9,876	1,126	659	1,536	2,871	830	23,659
	Rate (per cent.)	50.2	66.8	65.2	53.7	72.3	72.4	58.2	79.6	56.6	75.5	65.5
Yorkshire and Humberside	Convictions	3,327	525	4,563	483	12,548	1,779	1,382	3,164	4,345	961	33,077
	Rate (per cent.)	53.0	70.5	67.1	55.5	71.5	69.2	59.7	78.9	55.9	76.8	66.0
East Midlands	Convictions	2,104	405	3,070	383	7,909	1,300	551	1,739	2,408	1,161	21,030
	Rate (per cent.)	42.2	60.4	64.6	53.3	67.4	66.9	55.2	80.4	51.0	73.8	61.4
East Anglia	Convictions	894	161	1,142	93	3,733	610	475	1,076	1,034	777	9,995
	Rate (per cent.)	52.8	64.4	68.4	64.6	75.9	72.8	72.1	91.3	59.4	86.3	71.4
South East	Convictions	7,886	1,346	9,035	1,952	35,010	5,881	2,915	12,468	12,712	3,001	92,206
	Rate (per cent.)	46.4	62.2	67.8	47.6	73.2	69.3	57.2	84.2	56.6	67.5	66.0
Greater London(20)	Convictions	3,769	601	4,212	1,416	16,471	3,095	1,474	6,786	7,869	1,394	47,087
	Rate (per cent.)	42.9	55.7	67.4	45.5	73.3	68.2	53.9	82.6	58.0	63.7	64.6
Rest of South East	Convictions	4,117	745	4,823	536	18,539	2,786	1,441	5,682	4,843	1,607	45,119
	Rate (per cent.)	50.1	68.6	68.2	54.2	73.0	70.6	61.1	86.2	54.3	71.1	67.5
South West	Convictions	1,876	382	2,502	232	8,590	1,317	637	2,331	2,373	889	21,129
	Rate (per cent.)	48.6	62.8	65.2	53.8	71.5	69.1	63.2	84.9	45.9	77.4	64.6
West Midlands	Convictions	3,316	474	3,799	663	10,387	1,461	1,359	2,075	4,813	1,284	29,631
	Rate (per cent.)	50.2	62.0	66.3	53.0	69.6	69.0	57.1	83.2	53.4	72.1	63.0
North West	Convictions	4,603	714	5,437	819	20,399	2,630	718	5,050	8,860	1,477	50,707
	Rate (per cent.)	48.7	64.5	69.5	58.5	77.4	74.4	69.4	84.5	51.0	80.8	66.8
England	Convictions	26,652	4,349	32,969	4,977	108,452	16,104	8,696	29,439	39,416	10,380	281,434
	Rate (per cent.)	48.3	63.7	67.0	52.0	72.8	70.2	59.5	83.4	53.8	74.0	65.5
Wales	Convictions	2,476	333	2,377	190	7,646	1,126	869	2,145	2,762	819	20,743
	Rate (per cent.)	42.9	71.8	61.1	55.6	70.6	68.3	55.0	81.1	51.6	76.0	61.7

(19) Number of offenders convicted at all courts as a proportion (per cent.) of defendants prosecuted at magistrates' courts.

(20) Includes the Metropolitan and City of London Police Force Areas.

Table D: Notifiable offences cleared up by the police(21)(22): clear up rate by offence group, 1995 England and Wales

	Violence against the person	Sexual offences	Burglary	Robbery	Theft and handling stolen goods	Fraud and forgery	Criminal damage	Other	Total
North	78	81	17	30	27	54	21	98	26
Yorkshire and Humberside	79	79	16	25	20	50	14	101	21
East Midlands	82	81	22	33	23	46	18	98	26
East Anglia	82	76	20	33	23	57	20	99	26
South East	72	66	21	20	22	47	22	91	26
Greater London	65	57	22	18	18	46	31	87	25
Rest of South East	80	77	20	30	25	49	18	95	27
South West	84	83	19	29	22	54	22	98	26
West Midlands	77	75	29	20	23	35	15	94	26
North West	73	82	21	24	25	63	18	99	27
England	76	74	21	22	23	50	19	96	26
Wales	89	89	28	48	33	51	23	96	34

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

(22) Some offences cleared up may have been initially recorded in an earlier year.

21 Mar 1997 : Column: 943

Table E: Notifiable offences cleared by the police(23)(24): clear up rate by offence group, 1996England and Wales

	Violence against the person	Sexual offences	Burglary	Robbery	Theft and handling stolen goods	Fraud and forgery	Criminal damage	Other	Total
North	76	80	18	31	25	53	22	100	26
Yorkshire and Humberside	80	82	18	35	21	47	15	103	23
East Midlands	85	98	23	34	27	50	20	104	30
East Anglia	86	83	24	45	24	57	20	97	29
South East	72	64	22	24	23	47	18	92	27
Greater London	64	55	21	23	19	46	16	88	24
Rest of South East	81	77	23	36	26	50	19	96	29
South West	84	83	20	27	21	54	21	97	26
West Midlands	78	77	24	22	24	39	16	95	26
North West	73	82	17	23	23	60	17	98	25
England	76	75	21	26	23	49	18	96	26
Wales	86	92	31	52	35	53	23	101	37

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

(24) Some offences cleared up may have been initially recorded in an earlier year.

21 Mar 1997 : Column: 943

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