(1) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, it is the offence 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. (2) 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. (3) All ages column includes the age group 10 to 16. Source:
Court proceedings database, Criminal Justice Evidence and Analysis, Office for Criminal Justice Reform, Ministry of Justice
Roads: Closures
Mr. Greg Knight:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason the Metropolitan Police closed Finchley road in London on 9 July 2009; on whose authority; and what efforts were made to notify motorists of the closure in order to avoid unnecessary congestion. [288416]
Mr. Hanson:
The decision to close a road is an operational matter for the police. On this occasion, the Metropolitan police closed the road following a serious road traffic collision. The closure was necessary to ensure the safety of the public, to cut open the vehicles so that the drivers and passengers could be removed, to facilitate treatment for the injured and the removal of four casualties by the London ambulance service, and to carry out an investigation into the cause of the collision.
Transport for London were notified immediately of the closure and co-ordinated relevant announcements These which included local radio traffic updates to provide advance information of the closure and advice for motorists so that they could seek alternative routes as far in advance of the accident scene as possible.
Sexual Offences
Chris Huhne:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the detection rate has been for cases of (a) rape and (b) sexual assault in each police force area in each year since 1997. [286041]
Alan Johnson:
The available information is given in the tables.
It should be noted that non-sanction detections that contribute to the percentage change in total detection rates have fallen in recent years reflecting a significant shift by many police forces away from recording detections of crime where no further action is taken. For this reason overall detection rates over time are not fully comparable. From 1 April 2007 the rules governing recording of non-sanction detections were revised to reduce the scope within which they can be claimed to a very limited set of circumstance. There are other changes affecting trends in detection rates that are discussed in section 3.5 of Volume two of Crime in England and Wales 2008-09, a copy of which has been deposited in the Library of the House.
Detection rates are a ratio of crime detected in a period to crimes recorded in a period. They are not based on tracking whether individual crimes recorded in a period have eventually been detected.
Table 1 Detection rates for offences of rape and sexual assault: 2000-01 to 2001-02( 1)
2000-01
2001-02
Police force area
Rape
Sexual assault
Rape
Sexual assault
Avon and Somerset
43
48
27
32
Bedfordshire
33
54
25
42
British Transport Police
n/a
n/a
n/a
Cambridgeshire
50
59
46
51
Cheshire
85
84
81
76
Cleveland
59
68
65
69
Cumbria
70
85
74
69
Derbyshire
38
50
39
59
Devon and Cornwall
77
81
49
59
Dorset
36
52
39
48
Durham
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Dyfed-Powys
108
92
76
94
Essex
50
55
33
51
Gloucestershire
88
62
57
61
Greater Manchester
58
59
55
54
Gwent
98
90
93
89
Hampshire
n/a
n/a
53
56
Hertfordshire
66
65
62
75
Humberside
36
39
33
37
Kent
57
55
56
56
Lancashire
54
59
47
47
Leicestershire
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Lincolnshire
67
70
50
66
London, City of
50
29
22
68
Merseyside
74
66
53
54
Metropolitan Police
24
28
27
26
Norfolk
35
48
36
48
Northamptonshire
71
80
64
62
Northumbria
48
54
43
49
21 July 2009 : Column 1531W
North Wales
64
74
35
56
North Yorkshire
75
73
59
64
Nottinghamshire
50
41
36
42
South Wales
88
71
90
75
South Yorkshire
n/a
n/a
72
60
Staffordshire
38
39
35
33
Suffolk
35
57
30
51
Surrey
28
41
42
40
Sussex
34
47
35
48
Thames Valley
26
48
32
42
Warwickshire
52
46
30
57
West Mercia
57
55
44
50
21 July 2009 : Column 1532W
West Midlands
54
51
45
51
West Yorkshire
n/a
n/a
55
62
Wiltshire
32
36
46
47
England and Wales(2,3)
42
47
41
45
n/a = Not available. (1) The data in this table is prior to the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not direct comparable with those for later years. (2) For 2000-01 excludes British Transport Police, Durham, Hampshire, Leicestershire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. (3) For 2001-02 excludes British Transport Police. Durham and Leicestershire. Note:
Offences detected in any given year may have been initially recorded in a previous year and for this reason some percentages may exceed 100.
