---

Criminal Justice and Police Bill

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his oral statement of 29 January 2001, Official Report, columns 37-38, when he plans to bring clause 33 of the Criminal Justice and Police Bill into force. [148188]

Mr. Charles Clarke: We plan to bring clause 33 into force as soon as possible after enactment of the Bill.

Emergency Services (Hoax Calls)

Mr. Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many hoax 999 calls were

5 Feb 2001 : Column: 435W

received by the Metropolitan police in the last five years for which figures are available; and what percentage of total 999 calls were received by the police. [148214]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis has informed me that 999 calls received by the Metropolitan police are graded to the degree of the response required.

The category that contains hoax calls and calls to which a police response is not deemed appropriate is shown in the table.

Year	Total number of calls received	Total number of hoax calls and calls to which a police response not deemed necessary
1996	2,265,785	862,741
1997	2,335,653	961,500
1998	2,388,084	1,075,628
1999	2,250,164	1,194,380
2000	2,510,652	1,285,680

The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis has also informed me that 999 calls passed to the police and other emergency services by the telephone suppliers is estimated to be:

Police--60 per cent.

Ambulance--30 per cent.

Fire Brigade--10 per cent.

Coast Guard--Less than 1 per cent.

Burglar Alarms

Mr. Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many burglar alarm activations were responded to by the Metropolitan police in each of the last five years; and how many turned out to be false alarms. [148215]

5 Feb 2001 : Column: 436W

Mr. Charles Clarke: The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis has informed me that the number of burglary alarm activations handled by the Metropolitan police service in the last five years for which figures are available is as follows:

Years	Total activations	Total false activations
1995	321,588	289,589
1996	290,306	218,447
1997	239,368	205,950
1998	215,572	188,420
1999	219,503	183,996

Mr. Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many hours of Metropolitan police time were occupied by burglar alarm activations in each of the last five years. [148216]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis has informed me that the Metropolitan police do not keep records detailing the amount of police time spent dealing with burglar alarm activations.

Mobile Phone Thefts

Mr. Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many mobile phones were stolen in the Metropolitan police area last year (a) during burglaries and (b) in motor vehicle crime. [148217]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The Metropolitan police force did not identify, before December 2000, the theft of mobile telephones separately from all telephone equipment, including fax machines, carphones and answer phones etc.

The approximate proportion of offences in the Metropolitan police area where telephone equipment was stolen is shown in the table. The proportions are not exact as the number of telephone equipment items stolen does not correspond exactly to the number of offences where telephone equipment was stolen. For example, a burglary where two telephones were stolen will yield one offence of burglary and two items of equipment stolen.

5 Feb 2001 : Column: 435W

Number of offences in the Metropolitan area involving telephone equipment

	Burglary	Theft of vehicles	Theft from vehicles
Total number in 1999-2000(21)	129,145	62,791	112,206
Number of telephone equipment items stolen in 2000(22)	14,831	943	15,559
Percentage of offences involving theft of telephone equipment	11	2	14

⁽²¹⁾ Recorded Crime Statistics, full data for the year 2000 are not yet available

⁽²²⁾ Provided by the Metropolitan police; it is not known how many of the items were mobile telephones

5 Feb 2001 : Column: 435W

Prison Population

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average prison population was in each of the last 10 years; what the population was on the latest date for which information was available; what his projections are for the level of the prison population in the next five years; and if he will make a statement. [148578]

Mr. Boateng: The following is the average prison population in each of the last 10 years:

5 Feb 2001 : Column: 436W

Year	Number
1991	45,900
1992	45,800
1993	44,600
1994	48,800
1995	51,000
1996	55,300
1997	61,100
1998	65,300
1999	64,800
2000	64,000

Source:

Prison Statistics England and Wales, 1999, Cm 4805.

5 Feb 2001 : Column: 437W

The population on the latest date available (1 February 2001) was 63,620.The following is the latest prison population projection, in each of the next five years.

Year	Number
2001	64,200
2002	65,900
2003	67,800
2004	69,200
2005	70,300

Source:

Prison Population Brief, England and Wales, November 2000; http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/whatsnew1.html

5 Feb 2001 : Column: 438W

Conviction Rates

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions there were, and what the conviction rate was, for (a) all crimes, (b) violent crime and (c) property crime in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [148580]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Available information, taken from the Home Office court proceedings database, showing the number of offenders prosecuted at the magistrates court, convicted at all courts and the conviction rates for (a) all crimes, (b) violent crime and (c) property crime in each of the last 10 years is given in the table.

5 Feb 2001 : Column: 437W

Offenders prosecuted at the magistrates court, convicted at all courts and the conviction rate for certain offences, England and Wales, 1990-99⁽²³⁾

	All offences(24)			Violent crime(25)			Property crime(26)
Year	Prosecutions (thousand)	Convictions (thousand)	Conviction rate (percentage)	Prosecutions (thousand)	Convictions (thousand)	Conviction rate (percentage)	Prosecutions (thousand)	Convictions (thousand)	Conviction rate (percentage)
1990	1,969.3	1,562.7	79.4	126.0	81.2	64.5	280.7	213.6	76.1
1991	1,984.5	1,519.9	76.6	124.7	74.0	59.4	296.2	214.1	72.3
1992	2,047.0	1,528.4	74.7	128.7	71.7	55.7	291.3	205.0	70.4
1993	1,956.3	1,425.3	72.9	127.0	67.3	53.0	278.0	191.9	69.0
1994	1,969.7	1,424.6	72.3	132.9	68.9	51.8	278.6	191.2	68.6
1995	1,927.5	1,429.7	74.2	124.5	68.3	54.8	258.1	181.1	70.2
1996	1,923.0	1,440.8	74.9	129.2	70.3	54.4	251.1	175.5	69.9
1997	1,855.3	1,385.8	74.7	138.4	76.7	55.4	254.0	180.2	71.0
1998	1,951.9	1,469.7	75.3	148.8	82.5	55.4	261.7	189.9	72.6
1999	1,883.6	1,409.7	74.8	153.8	83.1	54.0	266.0	194.5	73.1

⁽²³⁾ Includes allowances for known shortfalls in the data. It is not possible to produce estimates for the more detailed offence categories.

⁽²⁴⁾ Taken as all indictable, summary non-motoring and summary motoring offences.

⁽²⁵⁾ Includes the indictable offence groups of violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery and the summary offences of assault.

⁽²⁶⁾ Includes the indictable offence groups of burglary, theft and handling stolen goods, fraud and forgery and criminal damage and the summary offence of interference with motor vehicles.

5 Feb 2001 : Column: 437W

Custodial Sentences

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what average length of custodial sentence was given by (a) magistrates courts and (b) crown courts in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; what proportion of all sentences were custodial sentences in each of those years; if he will break down the data by category of crime and in total; and if he will make a statement. [148579]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Information covering the period 1989 to 1999 and showing the proportion of males and females aged 21 and over sentenced to immediate imprisonment for indictable offences and the average length of sentence given by offence group and type of court is published in tables 7.15 and 7.16, "Criminal Statistics England and Wales 1999" (Cm 5001).

---