§ 14. Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish each year the proportions of each age cohort convicted of serious criminal offences for males and females by the ages of 15, 21 and 30 years.
§ Mr. MacleanYes. Future editions of the annual Command Paper "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales"—our well-known best seller—will include a table showing the results from five-yearly cohort studies giving the proportion convicted of a serious criminal offence by age and gender.
§ Mr. BottomleyThat is the best answer that I have received to that kind of question in the past five years. Given that some 2,000 serious crimes are committed each week and that 34 per cent. of men aged 30 have already been convicted of a serious criminal offence, does not that 722 closer tracking and monitoring show what methods work? Does he agree that our society can gain by cutting the number of people who become criminals?
§ Mr. MacleanI welcome my hon. Friend's support for the answer that I gave. I hope that all my hon. Friends are happy with me, having heard the warm commendation from my hon. Friend the Member for Eltham (Mr. Bottomley). We look forward to publishing those statistics every year and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for pressing me on that point.