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7 Mar 2005 : Column 1592W—continued

Hamas

19. Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent consideration has been given to listing Hamas as a proscribed international group. [219849]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The military wing of Hamas (Hamas IDQ) was proscribed in March 2001. Decisions to proscribe and deproscribe are and will continue to be taken only after the most careful consideration and on the basis of the best possible security and other appropriate advice. That will remain the basis for all decisions in the future.

Prison Population

21. David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were in prison on 1 March (a) 1975, (b) 1985, (c) 1995 and (d) 2005; and if he will make a statement. [219851]

Paul Goggins: The figures for years requested, as at 28 February , are:

	Number
1975	39,364
1985	(60)45,080
1995	(61)50,409
2005	75,354

⁽⁶⁰⁾Plus 9 in police cells.
⁽⁶¹⁾Plus 162 in police cells.



 
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Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his policy is on reducing the prison population. [219708]

Paul Goggins: The Government believe that prison should be reserved for serious, dangerous, and seriously persistent offenders. For other less serious offenders, tough community based sentences offer a much better alternative than short custodial sentences which can be ineffective in preventing re-offending.

But it is for the courts to determine who needs to go to prison. The Government have not set any target for reducing the size of the prison population. The latest prison population projections indicate prison numbers will increase over the next five years. To allow for this we are building capacity up to nearly 80,000 by January 2006.

Abuse (False Allegations)

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions in the last five years the police have enforced a criminal sanction against an individual who has made a false allegation of abuse. [219316]

Paul Goggins: Defendants charged for making false allegations are likely to be proceeded against for perverting the course of justice". It is not possible from the information held on the Home Office Court Proceedings database to identify from the number of defendants proceeded against for perverting the course of justice", what number were for false allegations of abuse, as the circumstances of the offence are not collected centrally.

Crime (Essex)

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many burglaries have been reported to (a) Essex police and (b) Southend police in each year since 1997; and how many reports led to a (i)prosecution and (ii) conviction; [208279]

(2) how many vehicle thefts have been reported to (a) Essex police and (b) Southend police in each year since 1997; and how many reports led to a (i)prosecution and (ii) conviction; [208593]
 
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(3) how many assaults have been reported to (a) Essex police and (b) Southend police in each year since 1997; and how many reports led to (i) prosecution and (ii) conviction; [208594]

(4) how many violence against the person offences have been reported to (a) Essex police and (b) Southend police in each year since 1997; and how many reports led to (i) prosecution and (ii) conviction; [208596]

(5) how many violent crimes have been reported to (a) Essex police and (b) Southend police in each year since 1997; and how many reports led to (i) prosecution and (ii) conviction; [208597]

(6) how many sexual offences have been reported to (a) Essex police and (b) Southend police in each year since 1997; and how many reports led to (i) prosecution and (ii) conviction; [208598]

(7) how many robberies have been reported to (a) Essex police and (b) Southend police in each year since 1997; and how many reports led to a (i)prosecution and (ii) conviction; [208639]

(8) how many (a) fraud and (b) forgery offences have been reported to (i) Essex police and (ii) Southend police in each year since 1997; and how many reports led to a (A) prosecution and (B) conviction. [208642]

Ms Blears: The available information is given in the tables. Tables 1 and 2 give the number of offences recorded by the police in the Essex police force area and the Southend Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) area. Recorded crime data is published on a financial year basis and data at CDRP level is only available for six key offences for 1999–2000 and 2000–01 but for all offences from 2001–02.

Tables 3 and 4 give the number of defendants proceeded against and found guilty in the Essex police force area and South East Essex petty sessional area. Court proceedings data is published on a calendar year basis. Data for 2004 will not be available until the autumn.

Because recorded crime deals with offences and court proceedings deals with defendants, the two data sets are not directly comparable.
Table 1: Offences recorded by the police by various offence types, 1997–98 to 2001–02 Number of offences

	Burglary	Theft of a vehicle	Common assault	Violence against the person	Violent crime(62)	Sexual offences	Robbery	Fraud	Forgery
Essex police force area
1997–98(63)	15,839	797	n/a	4,806	6,016	783	427	2,321	137
1998–99(64)	14,997	7,414	1,478	8,043	9,443	877	523	4,207	159
1999–2000	14,967	7,174	3,220	9,879	11,480	975	626	5,339	131
2000–01	14,889	6,826	3,344	10,680	12,232	852	700	6,455	160
2001–02	14,472	7,505	4,332	11,896	13,703	887	920	6,518	193
Southend Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership area
1997–98	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
1998–99	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
1999–2000	n/a	1,013	n/a	1,463	1,786	157	166	n/a	n/a
2000–01	n/a	863	n/a	1,414	1,697	135	148	n/a	n/a
2001–02	1,439	810	479	1,444	1,800	139	217	649	16

n/a=Not available.
⁽⁶²⁾Includes offences of violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery.
⁽⁶³⁾The number of crimes recorded using the coverage and rules in use until 31 March 1998.
⁽⁶⁴⁾The number of crimes recorded using the expanded coverage and revised counting rules which came into effect on 1 April 1998.
Note:
The data in this table is prior to the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard. These figures are not directly comparable with those for later years.





 
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Table 2: Offences recorded by the police by various offence types, 2002–03 and 2003–04 Number of offences

	Burglary	Theft of a vehicle	Common assault	Violence against the person	Violent crime(65)	Sexual offences	Robbery	Fraud	Forgery
Essex police force area
2002–03	16,909	7,664	3,559	22,090	24,583	1,165	1,328	7,471	263
2003–04	16,467	7,283	4,050	26,010	28,782	1,296	1,476	7,163	307
Southend Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership area
2002–03	1,994	668	321	3,043	3,551	195	313	596	38
2003–04	1,643	746	244	3,253	3,849	188	408	802	49

⁽⁶⁵⁾Includes offences of violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery.
Note:
The data in this table takes account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years.





Table 3: Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for various offences, 1997 to 2003⁽⁶⁶⁾

	Burglary		Theft of a vehicle		Common assault		Violence against the person		Violent crime(67)
	Proceeded against	Found guilty(68)	Proceeded against	Found guilty(68)	Proceeded against	Found guilty(68)	Proceeded against	Found guilty(68)	Proceeded against	Found guilty(68)
Essex police force area
1997	995	598	560	311	956	550	1,443	647	1,774	819
1998	920	581	562	357	1,270	748	1,468	637	1,851	824
1999	828	533	585	319	1,368	793	1,454	622	1,814	792
2000	837	436	599	348	1,475	732	1,361	569	1,665	728
2001	717	403	517	327	1,472	769	1,547	613	1,940	759
2002	680	405	575	381	1,473	845	1,298	618	1,705	792
2003	648	410	547	362	1,565	898	1,471	702	1,828	863
South East Essex petty sessional area(69)
1997	246	163	118	57	263	149	394	158	468	192
1998	248	159	138	65	366	198	421	171	497	200
1999	211	138	150	77	328	203	353	162	422	194
2000	147	107	129	80	348	159	290	127	341	151
2001	157	102	98	60	357	190	351	120	412	144
2002	130	70	95	62	309	186	292	145	386	172
2003	137	89	91	61	342	199	323	147	408	178

⁽⁶⁶⁾These data are on the principal offence basis.
⁽⁶⁷⁾Includes: Violence against the person, Sexual offences and Robbery.
⁽⁶⁸⁾For South East Essex PSA the guilty figures include those found guilty at the Crown court where South East Essex PSA was the committing court.
⁽⁶⁹⁾Covers Southend and includes some parts of Rayleigh, Benfleet and Canvey.



Table 4: Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for various offences, 1997 to 2003⁽⁷⁰⁾

	Sexual offences		Robbery		Fraud		Forgery
	Proceeded against	Found guilty(71)	Proceeded against	Found guilty(71)	Proceeded against	Found guilty(71)	Proceeded against	Found guilty(71)
Essex police force area
1997	194	112	137	60	528	355	314	226
1998	220	101	163	86	558	361	300	217
1999	228	81	132	89	508	347	231	173
2000	151	81	153	78	544	324	234	176
2001	195	66	198	80	505	321	304	223
2002	201	79	206	95	483	316	249	176
2003	186	77	171	84	442	321	191	149
South East Essex petty sessional area(72)
1997	41	19	33	15	120	78	81	58
1998	38	10	38	19	115	64	68	52
1999	41	15	28	17	114	83	53	40
2000	23	12	28	12	120	79	57	35
2001	30	11	31	13	100	60	65	50
2002	45	12	49	15	91	54	39	26
2003	33	15	52	16	78	56	33	25

⁽⁷⁰⁾These data are on the principal offence basis.
⁽⁷¹⁾For South East Essex PSA the guilty figures include those found guilty at the Crown court where South East Essex PSA was the committing court.
⁽⁷²⁾Covers Southend and includes some parts of Rayleigh, Benfleet and Canvey.



 
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