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25 Jun 2007 : Column 15W—continued

Graduates

Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many and what percentage of (a) women and (b) men of (i) white, (ii) Afro-Caribbean and (iii) Asian ethnicity received (A) first class, (B) upper second class and (C) lower second class degrees in Northern Irish universities in the last five years for which figures are available. [145400]

Mr. Hain: This is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Juvenile Justice Centre

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) attempted suicides and (b) self-harm incidents were recorded for juveniles at the Juvenile Justice Centre in each of the last three years. [143300]

25 Jun 2007 : Column 16W

Maria Eagle: The threat of suicide in custody is prevalent and the Juvenile Justice Centre operates a system of risk assessment to detect and manage suicidal and self-harm tendencies in young people. There have been no serious attempts at suicide in the last three years. Information relating to incidents of self-harm is recorded on individual case files and is not centrally co-ordinated. All incidents of self-harm, whether threatened or real, are treated seriously and intervention and support procedures exist to minimise the risk of recurrence and to ensure the continuing safety of young people at the centre.

Prisoner Escapes

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 8 March 2007, Official Report, column 2201W, on prisoner escapes, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the fall in the number of (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions in 2005; and what steps he is taking to (i) reduce the number of escapees and (ii) achieve a higher conviction rate. [128031]

Paul Goggins: The fall in the numbers of prosecutions and convictions in relation to escape from lawful custody offences since 2005 may partly reflect a change in policy, whereby prisoners who were granted temporary leave but failed to return on the agreed date were no longer automatically charged with an offence. Only in cases where the prisoner had been unlawfully at large for longer than eight weeks was a prosecution sought.

Under new proposals, however, PSNI will be notified as soon as a person has been unlawfully at large for seven days or more, with a view to prosecution. Notification may also be made for periods less than seven days, when the Governor in question considers this is justified by the circumstances of the case.

In addition, the PSNI have recently agreed new reporting procedures with the Northern Ireland Prison Service to ensure that all such cases will now be investigated and reported to the PPS. This will increase the number of convictions being achieved.

The procedures surrounding the supervision of prisoners both within and outside of prison establishments are constantly reviewed to ensure maximum efficiency and effectiveness and to minimise the possibility of escapes.

Sexual Offences

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases of sexual assault were reported in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years (a) in total, (b) in each parliamentary constituency and (c) in each council area. [145336]

Paul Goggins: I have been advised by the PSNI that statistics are collected by District Command Units which are coterminous with council areas. These statistics are set out in the following table. The data are not collated by other areas and therefore not available broken down by parliamentary constituency.

25 Jun 2007 : Column 17W

Sexual offences recorded by PSNI
	Sexual assaults
PSNI District Command Units	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Antrim	22	33	44
Ards	39	57	43
East Belfast	66	46	63
North Belfast	75	72	66
South Belfast	94	90	99
West Belfast	45	38	45
Carrickfergus	24	14	25
Castlereagh	15	31	28
Larne	27	14	16
Lisburn	65	69	78
Newtownabbey	49	51	54
North Down	40	49	46
Urban region total	561	564	607
Armagh	26	26	25
Ballymena	46	58	48
Ballymoney	13	13	14
Banbridge	21	18	19
Coleraine	42		58
Cookstown	12	17	14
Craigavon	46	67	54
Down	31	42	32
Dungannon and South Tyrone	28	21	28
Fermanagh	31	24	43
Foyle	115	139	135
Limavady	25	23	32
Magherafelt	18	21	24
Moyle	11	12	6
Newry and Mourne	36	35	47
Omagh	36	38	49
Strabane	28	23	35
Rural region total	565	635	647
Northern Ireland	1,126	1,199	1,254
Note: Sexual assault includes the following offences: rape, attempted rape, indecent assault on a female, indecent assault on a female child, indecent assault on a male, indecent assault on a male child.

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of serious sexual crimes reported in Northern Ireland resulted in conviction in the courts in each of the last three years. [145462]

Maria Eagle: Data relating to the number and percentage of serious sexual crimes reported that result in a conviction are not available as figures relating to recorded crime are collected on a different basis from those of prosecutions and convictions. Recorded crime figures relate to the number of notifiable crimes reported whereas prosecutions and convictions refer to the number of offenders who have been subsequently charged for offences. In addition, recorded crime figures incorporate each offence as initially recorded and these may differ from the offence for which a suspect or suspects are subsequently proceeded against.
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Table 1-3 gives the number of prosecutions and convictions for indictable sexual offences by individual offence and percentage of prosecutions that resulted in a conviction.

Data cover the calendar years 2003 to 2005, the latest available years and are collated on the principal offence rule; thus only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.

Table 1: Number of prosecutions and convictions and percentage convicted for indictable sexual offences by individual offence 2003
Offence	Prosecutions	Convictions	Percentage
Rape	26	8	31
Attempted rape(1)	5	2	40
Buggery	2	1	50
Gross indecency with child	8	6	75
Buggery with boy under 16 years of age	1	1	100
Buggery with woman	1	0	0
Buggery with girl	1	0	0
Gross indecency with a male under 21 years	1	1	100
Unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 14	1	1	100
Unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 17	5	5	100
Indecent assault on female	90	57	63
Indecent assault on male	11	6	55
Indecent assault on female child	7	3	43
Indecent assault on male child	1	0	0
Indecent exposure with intent to assault a female	6	2	33
Bigamy	2	2	100
Distributing indecent photographs of children	1	0	0
Possessing indecent photograph of a child	3	2	67
Taking indecent photograph(s) or pseudo photographs of children	10	9	90
Copying indecent photograph(s) or pseudo photograph(s) of children	1	1	100
Taking indecent photographs	1	1	100
Total	184	108	59
(1 )Includes assault with intent to rape.

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