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21 July 2009 : Column 1393W—continued

Public Service: Misconduct

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 15 December 2008, Official Report, column 478W, on misconduct in public office, when he plans to place in the Library a copy of his letter. [278335]

Mr. Straw: I have written to the hon. Member on 19 July 2009 and have placed a copy in the Library of the House. I apologise for the delay.

Reoffenders: Essex

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the re-offending rate of people in each age group in the Essex probation area was in each of the last five years. [287034]

Maria Eagle: The local re-offending figures are produced by aggregating the data of four snapshots of the probation caseload at the end of each quarter. Therefore the number of offenders quoted in the following table is
21 July 2009 : Column 1394W
approximately four times the number of offenders on the caseload at any one time.

The most recent re-offending rates for Essex are shown in the following table.

Local re-offending rates for Essex, 1 January-31 December 2008
	Number of offenders	Actual re-offending rate (percentage)
Essex probation area	20,217	8.17

The local re-offending rate is not broken down by age band.

Local adult re-offending rates by probation area or local authority are not available for periods prior to 1 October 2007 to 30 September 2008.

Further details on local adult re-offending are available at:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/local-adult-reoffending-2008-ii.pdf

Sexual Offences

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of people convicted of (a) rape and (b) sexual assault were aged (i) under 16, (ii) 16 to 18, (iii) 19 to 65 and (iv) over 65 years in each year since 1997. [285790]

Claire Ward: The number of persons found guilty at all courts for rape and sexual assault, in England and Wales, by age group, from 1997 to 2007 (latest available) is shown in the following tables.

The figures given in the tables relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. For example, when a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.

Court proceedings data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.

Number of persons found guilty at all courts for offences of rape( 1) and sexual assault in England and Wales, by age group, 1997 to 2007( 2,3,4,5)
	1997		1998		1999		2000( 6)		2001		2002
	Found guilty	% of total found guilty	Found guilty	% of total found guilty	Found guilty	% of total found guilty	Found guilty	% of total found guilty	Found guilty	% of total found guilty	Found guilty	% of total found guilty
Rape
Age 10-15	25	4	16	2	26	4	16	3	19	3	12	2
Age 16-18	52	8	28	4	51	8	41	7	39	7	35	5
Age 19-65	528	86	600	89	559	86	515	87	498	88	574	89
Age 66 and over	10	2	29	4	16	2	21	4	11	2	23	4
Total all ages	615	100	673	100	652	100	593	100	567	100	644	100
Sexual assault
Age 10-15	196	7	207	7	208	7	185	7	218	9	237	9
Age 16-18	235	8	243	8	232	8	229	9	197	8	232	9
Age 19-65	2,376	80	2,278	79	2,259	79	2,023	78	1,946	77	1,988	77
Age 66 and over	156	5	166	6	169	6	147	6	156	6	133	5
Total all ages	2,963	100	2,894	100	2,868	100	2,584	100	2,517	100	2,590	100

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	2003		2004		2005		2006		2007
	Found guilty	% of total found guilty	Found guilty	% of total found guilty	Found guilty	% of total found guilty	Found guilty	% of total found guilty	Found guilty	% of total found guilty
Rape
Age 10-15	16	2	23	3	32	4	39	5	38	4
Age 16-18	33	5	32	4	74	9	70	8	61	7
Age 19-65	594	89	658	89	660	83	728	84	731	84
Age 66 and over	27	4	29	4	29	4	25	3	42	5
Total all ages	670	100	742	100	795	100	862	100	872	100
Sexual assault
Age 10-15	164	7	246	9	170	8	138	7	147	7
Age 16-18	205	8	216	8	180	8	150	7	151	7
Age 19-65	1,955	79	1,996	77	1,747	78	1,613	79	1,668	79
Age 66 and over	143	6	150	6	141	6	151	7	137	7
Total all ages	2,467	100	2,608	100	2,238	100	2,052	100	2,103	100
(1) Includes attempted rape. (2) Data are on the principal offence basis. (3) Data includes the following statutes and corresponding offence descriptions: Sexual Offences Act 1956 s.14 Indecent assault on a male. Indecent assault on a female. (4) The Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force on 1st May 2004 and repealed previous Sexual Offences Acts: Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.1 Rape of a female. Rape of a male Attempted rape of a female. Attempted rape of a male. Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.2 Assault on a male by penetration Assault on a female by penetration Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.3 Sexual assault on a male. Sexual assault on a female Sexual Offences Act 2003 S. 5 Rape of a female child under 13 by a male Rape of a male child under 13 by a male Attempted rape of a female child under 13 by a male Attempted rape of a male child under 13 by a male Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.6 Assault of a male child under 13 by penetration Assault of a female child under 13 by penetration Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.7 Sexual assault of a female child under 13 Sexual assault of a male child under 13 5 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (6) Staffordshire Police Force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted at magistrates' courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. Source: Office for Criminal Justice Reform - Evidence and Analysis Unit (OCJR-E&A)

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