Margaret Moran:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in the last five years have been convicted of offences of both child abuse and viewing online child abuse images. [291751]
Claire Ward:
I have been asked to reply.
The number of persons found guilty at all courts in England and Wales for offences relating to child pornography of taking, permitting to be taken, distributing, publishing or possession of indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children, from 2003 to 2007 13 Oct 2009 : Column 846W
(latest available) is shown in table 1 as follows. It is not possible to separately identify computer based offences from other offences related to indecent photographs.
The number of persons found guilty at all courts in England and Wales for offences relating to child abuse, from 2003 to 2007 is shown in table 2 as follows. There is no specific offence of "child abuse" therefore statistics are only provided where the age of the victim can be identified as a child from the description of the offence. Furthermore the term "child abuse" describes harm caused to a child arising from emotional, physical, sexual abuse or neglect caused by a parent, guardian, carer, or stranger. A number of other offences such as offences against the person including physical assault may frequently be used by the police to charge offenders.
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 significantly modernised and strengthened the laws on sexual offences in England and Wales to provide extra protection to children from sexual exploitation. This makes direct comparisons with previous legislation very difficult. Many new offences created by the Act will not have a direct equivalent under the old legislation. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force on 1 May 2004. Table 2 includes, for 2003 only, comparable offences under the Sexual Offences Act 1956.
Court proceedings data for 2008 are planned for publication at the end of November 2009.
Table 1: The number of persons found guilty at all courts in England and Wales for offences relating to child pornography( 1) from 2003 to 2007( 2, 3)
Offence Description
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Take, permit to be taken, or to make distribute or publish indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children
1,048
978
958
768
782
Possession of an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child
239
184
196
166
185
(1 )Offences under the Protection of Children Act 1978, section 1 and section 6 as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 84 & Criminal Justice & Court Services Act 2000 S.41(1); Offences under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 Sec. 160 as amended by the Criminal Justice & Court Services Act 2000. (2 )The statistics 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 the principal offence 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 more severe. (3 )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. Source:
Office for Criminal Justice Reform-Evidence & Analysis Unit.
Table 2: The number of persons found guilty at all courts in England and Wales for offences relating to child abuse, 2003 to 2007( 1, 2)
Statute
Offence description
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004(3) S.5
Causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable person
(4)-
(4)-
-
2
6
Children and Young Persons Act 1933 S.1
Cruelty or neglect of children
494
540
482
488
493
Offences against the Person Act 1861 S.27
Abandoning children under 2 years
1
-
-
2
1
13 Oct 2009 : Column 847W
Sexual Offences Act 2003(5) S.1
Rape of a female aged under 16
(6)254
275
234
219
236
Sexual Offences Act 2003(5) S.1
Rape of a male aged under 16
(6)29
28
32
15
23
Sexual Offences Act 2003(5) S. 5
Rape of a female child under 13 by a male
(4)-
5
58
85
91
Sexual Offences Act 2003(5 )S. 5
Rape of a male child under 13 by a male
(4)-
1
14
32
37
Sexual Offences Act 2003(5) S.7(5)
Sexual assault of a female child under 13
(4)-
34
174
243
273
Sexual Offences Act 2003(5) S.8(1)(2)(1)(3), S.10(1a,b,ci)(3), S.9(1a,b,cii)(2)(3), S.10(1,a,b,c(ii)(2)(3)
Sexual activity involving a child
(4)-
20
127
185
190
Sexual Offences Act 2003(5) S.16(1ei,2-5),(1eii,2-5), S.17(1ei,2-5)(1eii,2-5), S.18(1fi,2-5), S19(1ei,2-5)
Abuse of a position of trust: Sexual activity with children
(4)-
3
14
16
15
Total
778
906
1,135
1,287
1,365
(1) The statistics 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 the principal offence 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 more 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 )Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 S.5 came into force on 21 March 2005. (4 )Not applicable. (5 )The Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force on 1 May 2004. (6 )Sexual Offences Act 1956, S.1, as amended by the Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994, S.142-comparable offences to S.1 Sexual Offences Act 2003. Source:
Office for Criminal Justice Reform-Evidence & Analysis Unit
Margaret Moran:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to implement the commitments made by G8 Justice and Home Affairs Ministers in relation to combating child pornography on the internet. [291976]
Mr. Alan Campbell:
The Government fully support the declaration on combating child pornography made by the G8 in Munich in 2007, and followed up by the Declaration made in Rome this year. The Government believe that the UK has the right laws in place to tackle child sexual images, but is always willing to consider changes should the need be identified.
13 Oct 2009 : Column 848W
The Government have been very clear that the use of blocking to prevent access to these images is something that internet service providers should do, and we are very pleased with the support from these providers, which has led to 98.6 per cent. of UK consumer broadband lines being covered by blocking of sites identified by the Internet Watch Foundation as containing such illegal images.
The Government, through the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, has also supported the European Financial Coalition, which brings together law enforcement and the financial sector to help tackle websites providing these images for financial gain. The Government support this work, both at UK and at EU level, to make sure that not only do law enforcement catch the perpetrators, but that their financial gain is minimised.
Offensive Weapons: Schools
Mr. Jim Cunningham:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the effect on the number of offences related to the possession of a knife of those aspects of the Tackling Knives Action Programme which apply to schools. [287551]
Mr. Hanson [holding answer 20 July 2009]: Figures for possession of a knife or offensive weapon which relate to schools are too small for reliable interpretation; therefore they are counted within the sentencing statistics for England and Wales. Figures are given for all knife crime possession offences in England and Wales, including those on a school premises.
The most recent figures from the Ministry of Justice show that the number of offences involving possession of a knife or offensive weapon fell 7 per cent. (from 6,931 to 6,477 offences) in January to March 2009, compared with the same period in 2008.
In the same period the number of offences committed by young people aged 10-17 years fell by 15 per cent. (from 1,591 to 1,359 offences).
Opiates
Mr. Paice:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the weight notified to his Department by manufacturers of opiate derivatives and finished products of loss or theft of product was of (a) opiate raw material, (b) opiate medicinal products, (c) oxycodone raw material and (d) codeine raw material in each year between 1999 and 2009. [290063]
Mr. Alan Campbell:
The data are not available in the format requested. However figures for total losses including during manufacturing, destructions, thefts and losses are available for the years 2001 to 2007 in the following table. These figures are a combination of losses during the manufacturing process, destruction and stolen/mislaid drugs and are based on figures reported by licensees. We do not have data for loss or theft alone.
Reported losses of opioid drugs (includes lo s ses during manufacturing process, amounts destroyed, stolen and mislaid)
