§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for Home Department how many men and how many women were 98W charged with shoplifting during the months of December during each of the past five years for which records are available ; how many pleaded guilty and how many not guilty ; and of those who were tried in magistrates' courts and in Crown courts, respectively, and who pleaded not guilty, how many and what percentage were convicted.
§ Mr. John:Information on the date of the offence is not collected centrally. Annual information on shoplifting is published in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales"; tables 1(a) and 4.5 of the volume for 1977 (Cmnd. 7289), are relevant to this question.