§ 6. Mr. Boydenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will investigate the problem of vandalism in areas where extensive house demolition is taking place.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesThe police are doing all they reasonably can to cope with 1527 the problem and I do not believe that a special inquiry will help.
§ Mr. BoydenWill my hon. Friend issue special advice to local authorities, local education authorities, and magistrates who have to deal with offenders so that they may more effectively deal with this very serious problem?
§ Mr. ReesI do not think that it is for the Home Office to issue advice in this way. From my personal experience, one way would be to see that the problem did not arise so much. In some instances, clearance areas are left clear too long, and such an area becomes a vandal's dream of home. That is the part of it which should be looked at more closely.
§ 7. Mr. Boydenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions for vandalism there were in 1966, 1967 and 1968; and what percentage these convictions represent of known offences.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesThe number of persons convicted in England and Wales of offences classified as malicious injuries to property or malicious damage was 17,668 in 1966, 17,297 in 1967 and 18,687 in 1968. These comprise both indictable and summary offences; for the latter category, statistics are kept only of persons prosecuted, so that a comparison with the number of known offences of this kind is not practicable.
§ Mr. BoydenWill not my hon. Friend do a bit more about this? It seems to be a rising trend or at least an unfortunately stable one. Is the situation more serious now than it was ten years ago?
§ Mr. ReesI do not think that these figures show that it is much more serious. Certainly it is as important. Most chief constables are aware of the problem that has arisen, and each different area has its own nuance in this problem.