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5 Mar 2010 : Column 1460W—continued

Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many people have been convicted of dangerous driving in each of the smallest geographical areas for which figures are available in each of the last 10 years; and what proportion of those convicted were repeat offenders in each year; [320164]

(2) how many people in each age group have been convicted of causing death or bodily harm through driving in each of the smallest geographical areas for which figures are available in each of the last 10 years; and what proportion of those convicted were repeat offenders. [320168]

Maria Eagle: The number of persons found guilty at all courts in England and Wales of dangerous driving, by police force area, from 1999 to 2008 (latest available) is shown in table 1. These figures have been drawn from the Court Proceedings Database.

The proportion of convictions for dangerous driving where the offender had a previous conviction for dangerous driving, as recorded on the Police National Computer, by police force area, from 2000 to 2008 is given in table 2.

The figures in this table are provisional and subject to change as more information is recorded by the police. PNC data have been used for this table rather than the court proceedings data that forms the source of the published conviction statistics, as the PNC provides information on the criminal history of offenders. Figures prior to 2000 are not available.

The number of persons on the Court Proceedings Database found guilty at all courts in England and Wales of causing death or bodily harm through driving, by age group and police force area (which is the smallest geographic area for which statistics are available), from 1999 to 2008 can be found in tables 3A and 3B.

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Figures taken from the Police National Computer show that between 2000 and 2008 three offenders were convicted for an offence of causing death or bodily harm through driving having been convicted previously for a similar offence.

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Court proceedings data for 2009 are planned to be published in the autumn 2010.

Table 1: The number of persons found guilty at all courts in England and Wales for dangerous driving( 1) , by police force area, from 1999 to 2008( 2,3,4)
Police force area	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008( 3)
Avon and Somerset	115	117	110	142	164	169	153	114	116	93
Bedfordshire	27	28	36	38	54	36	43	44	40	55
Cambridgeshire	77	61	67	74	95	78	72	77	52	50
Cheshire	80	83	79	77	97	104	70	84	72	59
City of London	3	4	8	9	6	8	7	4	2	1
Cleveland	66	57	72	82	79	101	72	66	63	56
Cumbria	52	54	48	62	79	72	63	59	88	63
Derbyshire	86	88	95	107	105	108	58	60	65	54
Devon and Cornwall	75	63	78	78	85	75	67	52	57	54
Dorset	15	24	36	37	52	50	44	23	34	23
Durham	49	49	62	66	85	89	55	61	44	35
Essex	94	74	69	95	99	104	89	76	91	63
Gloucestershire	48	54	49	45	52	52	56	34	29	34
Greater Manchester	330	368	315	390	433	427	328	292	281	225
Hampshire	134	158	158	158	144	130	113	95	104	108
Hertfordshire	36	47	37	53	71	69	73	76	56	40
Humberside	67	79	82	75	103	91	79	94	79	80
Kent	66	62	66	93	116	94	93	91	76	76
Lancashire	129	138	120	156	147	132	117	135	126	87
Leicestershire	75	97	121	114	126	118	87	61	53	60
Lincolnshire	45	39	41	45	49	44	33	36	33	32
Merseyside	112	99	126	122	169	243	233	152	189	128
Metropolitan police	317	359	390	446	562	570	515	475	442	396
Norfolk	47	31	32	59	67	60	56	59	72	36
North Yorkshire	64	61	60	77	65	70	63	73	66	63
Northamptonshire	64	56	27	32	36	77	46	50	43	52
Northumbria	227	185	196	193	187	191	170	171	157	123
Nottinghamshire	101	118	125	148	218	167	128	103	93	95
South Yorkshire	121	165	116	143	194	149	126	121	115	114
Staffordshire	61	49	66	81	75	65	70	107	62	85
Suffolk	54	43	50	60	50	51	42	36	67	54
Surrey	23	29	25	42	50	33	26	23	35	25
Sussex	71	56	82	75	65	64	83	66	61	54
Thames Valley	81	98	105	150	129	115	129	125	147	121
Warwickshire	36	28	29	35	40	33	63	63	51	43
West Mercia	111	72	78	106	108	102	117	104	89	92
West Midlands	231	289	349	451	448	488	397	413	320	272
West Yorkshire	205	186	162	247	278	279	249	178	216	183
Wiltshire	38	48	40	49	53	43	45	34	31	23
Dyfed-Powys	62	53	37	59	52	58	39	46	42	35
Gwent	86	95	64	86	95	79	84	68	60	44
North Wales	57	54	63	52	71	85	74	63	63	55
South Wales	170	172	203	206	198	187	168	150	136	93
Total England and Wales	4,008	4,090	4,174	4,915	5,451	5,360	4,695	4,314	4,118	3,534
(1) Includes offences of aiding, abetting, causing or permitting reckless driving under the Road Traffic Act 1988 s.2 as amended by the Road Traffic Act 1991 s.2. (2) The figures given 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. (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. (4) Excludes convictions for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services in the Ministry of Justice.

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