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6 Jul 2005 : Column 520W—continued

Criminal Cases Review Commission

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many judicial review actions against the Criminal Cases Review Commission have been resolved without a final decision in court. [4489]

Fiona Mactaggart: There have been 104 judicial review actions against the Commission which have been resolved without a final decision in court. These include cases where there has been a pre-action protocol letter but no further proceedings were taken once the Commission replied, where the applicant has withdrawn the application, where leave has been refused by a single judge, and where leave has been refused by the full court on oral renewal.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many judicial reviews against the Criminal Cases Review Commission have been upheld by the court. [4490]

Fiona Mactaggart: There have been two judicial reviews against the Commission which have been upheld in court.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of cases referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, result in acquittal. [4491]

Fiona Mactaggart: At 31 May 2005 the Commission had referred 274 cases to the appeal courts. Of these, 223 had been heard. Appeals were allowed in 155 cases, dismissed in 65 cases, and judgment had been reserved in the remaining three. That was 70 per cent. allowed and 30 per cent. dismissed.

Criminal Justice Act 1988

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions under section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 have taken place in each of the last five years; and what proportion of defendants convicted under this section were given custodial sentences. [4782]

Fiona Mactaggart [holding answer 16 June 2005]: The information contained in the table gives the number of defendants proceeded against at the magistrates courts and found guilty and sentenced at all courts for offences under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, Sec 139, England and Wales 1999 to 2003. Statistics on court proceedings for 2004 will be published in the autumn.
Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty and sentenced to immediate custody at all courts under Criminal Justice Act 1988, Sec 139⁽⁷⁵⁾, England and Wales 1999 to 2003

Offence description	Statute	Year	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Sentenced	Immediate custody	Percentage sentenced to immediate custody
Having an article with blade or	Criminal Justice Act 1988, Sec 139	1999	4,549	3,532	3,548	534	15
point in public place	as amended by Offensive	2000	4,616	3,511	3,518	499	14
	Weapons Act 1996, Sec 3	2001	5,752	4,299	4,303	589	14
		2002	6,889	5,281	5,269	766	15
		2003	6,839	5,308	5,311	755	14
Having an article with blade or	Criminal Justice Act 1988, Sec	1999	10	9	9	1	(11)
point on school premises(76)	139A(1)(5)(a) added by Offensive	2000	19	17	17	3	(18)
	Weapons Act 1996, Sec 4(1)	2001	25	23	23	1	(4)
		2002	22	19	19	1	(5)
		2003	25	29	29	3	(10)
Possession of offensive weapons	Criminal Justice Act 1988, Sec	1999	18	20	20	3	(15)
without lawful authority or	139A(2)(5)(b) added by Offensive	2000	13	11	18	6	(33)
reasonable excuse on school	Weapons Act 1996, Sec 4(1)	2001	18	18	19	3	(16)
premises		2002	21	17	21	5	(24)
		2003	20	14	21	4	(19)
	Total	1999	4,577	3,561	3,577	538	15
		2000	4,648	3,539	3,553	508	14
		2001	5,795	4,340	4,345	593	14
		2002	6,932	5,317	5,309	772	15
		2003	6,884	5,351	5,361	762	14

⁽⁷⁵⁾These data are on the principal offence basis.
⁽⁷⁶⁾Data excludes prosecutions and convictions for West Mercia PFA, until clarification of these cases is obtained.
Note:
Figures in brackets are based on totals of less than 100.





 
6 Jul 2005 : Column 521W
 

Deepcut Barracks

Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the Devon and Cornwall constabulary to conclude its investigation into the inquiry by Surrey Police into the four deaths at the Deepcut army barracks between 1995 and 2002; and if he will make a statement. [7132]

Hazel Blears: The Inquiry Team had hoped to complete the report by June of this year. However, that deadline is likely to be extended by a few months. It will be discussing with Surrey Police and the IPCC recent disclosures from the Army and once those discussions have been concluded it will be better placed to give a final date for completion.

Dispersal Orders

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of dispersal orders; and if he will make a statement. [8050]

 
6 Jul 2005 : Column 522W
 

Hazel Blears: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave him on 20 June 2005, Official Report, column 754W.

Drink-driving

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 20 June 2005, Official Report, column 755W, on drink-driving, how many (a) arrests and (b) convictions for drink-driving resulted in custodial sentences in each of the last 10 years, broken down by police authority. [7942]

Hazel Blears: The information requested on arrests is not collected centrally.

Information taken from the Home Office Court Proceedings Database on convictions and custodial sentences for drink-driving offences by police force area 1997 to 2003 (latest available) is given in the table. Data for 2004 will be available early in 2006.
Findings of guilt and immediate custodial sentences at all courts for offences of driving etc. after consuming alcohol or taking drugsby police force area, England and Wales 1997–2003 Number of offences

	1997		1998		1999		2000
Police force area	Findings of guilt	Immediate custody(77)	Findings of guilt	Immediate custody(77)	Findings of guilt	Immediate custody(77)	Findings of guilt	Immediate custody(77)
Avon and Somerset	2,812	163	2,566	157	2,728	165	2,462	152
Bedfordshire	1,146	119	1,060	96	869	87	797	89
Cambridgeshire	1,092	56	1,060	62	941	43	793	41
Cheshire	1,969	97	1,903	119	1,827	133	1,652	122
Cleveland	926	61	870	63	811	57	777	56
Cumbria	931	49	856	51	871	37	806	50
Derbyshire	1,612	147	1,547	202	1,463	181	1,417	126
Devon and Cornwall	2,342	91	2,265	127	2,277	112	2,199	104
Dorset	1,214	93	1,186	88	1,120	96	1,115	84
Durham	1,044	66	1,035	53	1,137	81	1,124	76
Essex	2,736	228	2,438	233	2,528	261	2,462	237
Gloucestershire	1,067	48	985	36	889	51	804	37
Greater Manchester	4,806	440	4,715	453	4,850	464	4,801	428
Hampshire	3,774	243	3,597	231	3,725	213	3,472	244
Hertfordshire	1,670	90	1,672	91	1,679	90	1,552	98
Humberside	1,274	76	1,358	87	1,323	97	1,371	128
Kent	2,321	97	2,627	155	2,633	133	2,592	134
Lancashire	3,389	224	2,945	178	3,010	184	2,584	163
Leicestershire	1,648	183	1,485	140	1,624	188	1,531	152
Lincolnshire	1,088	47	979	36	941	44	816	48
London, City of	436	8	301	9	236	5	162	4
Merseyside	2,719	304	2,451	326	2,137	296	2,128	286
Met Police	16,165	1,270	13,889	1,050	12,414	838	11,801	891
Norfolk	1,116	49	1,118	43	1,010	64	935	45
Northamptonshire	1,107	109	1,062	73	1,058	91	782	90
Northumbria	2,625	184	2,457	194	2,463	229	2,621	215
North Yorkshire	1,365	77	1,205	77	1,124	60	1,073	67
Nottinghamshire	2,031	255	1,804	247	1,802	262	1,722	210
South Yorkshire	2,296	204	2,002	178	1,927	149	2,122	170
Staffordshire(78)	2,036	132	1,955	140	1,711	143	n/a	n/a
Suffolk	1,050	53	1,042	60	1,089	71	902	74
Surrey	1,380	64	1,328	58	1,417	47	1,539	61
Sussex	2,373	110	2,113	113	2,224	120	2,112	136
Thames Valley	4,070	215	3,896	195	3,725	216	3,496	212
Warwickshire	837	44	784	53	856	38	786	42
West Mercia	1,947	87	1,794	97	1,747	114	1,631	101
West Midlands	6,351	598	5,582	532	4,775	532	4,559	451
West Yorkshire	3,953	394	3,669	329	3,597	358	3,375	287
Wiltshire	1,043	27	1,108	39	1,009	45	930	28
England	93,761	6,802	86,709	6,471	83,567	6,395	79,671	6,076
Dyfed Powys	1,029	44	995	38	944	48	858	45
Gwent	1,166	61	1,203	84	1,079	78	1,211	99
North Wales	1,354	96	1,306	95	1,248	94	1,332	92
South Wales	2,892	257	2,903	239	2,526	282	2,757	255
Wales	6,441	458	6,407	456	5,797	502	6,158	491
England and Wales	100,202	7,260	93,116	6,927	89,364	6,897	85,829	6,567

 
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Number of offences

	2001		2002		2003
Police force area	Findings of guilt	Immediate custody(77)	Findings of guilt	Immediate custody(77)	Findings of guilt	Immediate custody(77)
Avon and Somerset	2,197	129	2,401	124	2,666	167
Bedfordshire	914	79	955	82	1,072	72
Cambridgeshire	813	51	852	41	933	56
Cheshire	1,529	96	1,993	103	1,905	110
Cleveland	887	77	921	71	981	61
Cumbria	761	51	768	37	843	37
Derbyshire	1,411	140	1,465	164	1,617	168
Devon and Cornwall	2,369	128	2,441	95	2,667	121
Dorset	1,150	91	1,199	83	1,264	73
Durham	1,097	86	1,136	68	1,170	77
Essex	2,456	264	2,522	267	2,622	311
Gloucestershire	865	39	926	44	890	37
Greater Manchester	4,715	454	4,720	474	4,743	437
Hampshire	3,464	235	3,846	243	3,663	234
Hertfordshire	1,666	94	1,894	90	1,904	78
Humberside	1,259	126	1,395	113	1,445	150
Kent	2,575	165	2,745	152	2,811	179
Lancashire	2,304	148	2,599	159	2,652	146
Leicestershire	1,546	140	1,659	140	1,725	143
Lincolnshire	877	60	847	56	1,111	42
London, City of	162	10	221	12	235	4
Merseyside	2,195	217	2,293	216	2,687	215
Met Police	11,260	928	12,905	927	12,621	922
Norfolk	1,143	75	1,220	55	1,274	59
Northamptonshire	399	65	236	35	799	65
Northumbria	2,529	217	2,588	188	2,747	187
North Yorkshire	1,066	55	1,119	63	1,194	51
Nottinghamshire	1,598	187	1,420	129	1,644	149
South Yorkshire	2,020	159	1,945	165	2,089	125
Staffordshire(78)	1,513	136	1,704	143	1,733	141
Suffolk	920	43	1,105	79	1,213	66
Surrey	1,592	65	1,614	68	1,464	44
Sussex	2,358	128	2,306	149	2,430	120
Thames Valley	3,275	210	4,317	219	3,884	159
Warwickshire	880	33	841	40	918	33
West Mercia	1,740	91	1,719	93	1,797	100
West Midlands	4,914	471	5,050	438	5,233	420
West Yorkshire	3,220	331	3,564	268	3,720	260
Wiltshire	1,045	53	1,005	54	1,031	62
England	78,684	6,127	84,456	5,947	87,397	5,881
Dyfed Powys	867	36	927	47	995	46
Gwent	1,152	76	1,074	74	1,149	94
North Wales	1,227	87	1,270	71	1,326	76
South Wales	2,812	295	2,761	236	2,840	211
Wales	6,058	494	6,032	428	6,310	427
England and Wales	84,742	6,621	90,488	6,375	93,707	6,308

n/a = Not available.
⁽⁷⁷⁾Immediate custody includes sentences of Secure Training Order, Detention and Training Order, Young Offender Institution and Unsuspended sentence of imprisonment.
⁽⁷⁸⁾Staffordshire police force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at detailed level and have been excluded from the table.



 
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