§ Mr. Leeasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions for being a suspected person under the provisions of the Vagrancy Act 1824 were obtained for the first nine months of the current year; and what were the total numbers of convictions for this offence for the complete years 1977 and 1976; how many of these convictions occurred in respect of offences committed in the Birmingham district council area and how many in the area of Greater London.
§ Mr. John:The number of persons found guilty in England and Wales of being a suspected person or reputed thief frequenting a public place with intent to commit an arrestable offence is published annually in"Criminal Statistics, England and Wales "— classification 186,"frequenting ", in table 1(a) of the volume for 1977, Cmnd. 7289, the latest period for which information is available.
The numbers of persons found guilty in the Birmingham petty sessional division were 87 in 1976 and 66 in 1977. The corresponding figures for the Metropolitan Police district were 1,567 in 1976 and 1,472 in 1977.