§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) of those men, women, boys under 18 years of age and girls under 18 years of age reported missing in 1972 and subsequently traced, how many and what percentage were traced (a) within a week, (b) within a month, (c) within three months, (d) within six months, and (e) not for over six months of such report;
280Wmany people were murdered in the United Kingdom in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. CarlisleThe following table gives the latest corrected figures for offences of murder known to the police in England and Wales:
1962 … … … … … 129 1963 … … … … … 122 1964 … … … … … 135 1965 … … … … … 135 1966 … … … … … 122 1967 … … … … … 154 1968 … … … … … 148 1969 … … … … … 118 1970 … … … … … 135 1971 … … … … … 173
§ Mr. Churchillasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many charges of murder were brought in the United Kingdom by the police in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and how many convictions resulted.
§ Mr. CarlisleThe following table gives the latest available information relating to persons committed for trial and indicted for murder in England and Wales:
(2) of those men, women, boys under 18 years of age and girls under 18 years of age who were reported missing in 1972, how many and what percentage have since returned to their homes;
(3) how many and what percentage of men, women, boys under 18 years of age and girls under 18 years of age who were reported missing and subsequently traced were found to be dead; and how many of such deaths were attributed to suicide or to murder, respectively;
281W(4) by what percentage the numbers of missing men, women, boys under 18 years of age and girls under 18 years of age, respectively, have increased since 1968.
§ Mr. CarlisleI should not feel justified in asking chief officers of police to undertake the substantial labour of extracting this information, so far as it is available, from their records.
§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many men, women, boys under 18 years of age and girls under 18 years of age in care of local authorities or in custody absconded or were otherwise missing during each of the last five years for which records are available.
§ Mr. CarlisleInformation about escapes and absconds from prison department establishments is not available in exactly the form requested. Records refer to persons under and over the age of 21 years rather than 18. The totals shown below include prisoners who have escaped from closed establishments, absconded from open establishments or while outside an establishtment under escort, and who have failed to return from authorised absences from prison.
Over 21 Under 21 Men Women Men Women 1968 … 464 14 27* —* 1969 … 522 20 1,399 25 1970 … 672 17 1,120 9 1971 … 770 18 1,972 32 1972 … 730 23 1,150 70 * Statistics of absconds from borstal institutes are not available for 1968 Responsibility for children in the care of local authorities rests with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services.