§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration he has given to paragraph 35 of his Department's working party on bail proceedings in magistrates' courts; and what steps have been taken or are contemplated to obtain information about persons who abscond on bail and about persons who commit offences when on bail.
§ Mr. BrittanThe report of the departmental working party on bail proceedings in magistrates' courts was published in 1974. As a result, information about absconding on bail is now collected nationally and is published in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales" (tables 8.2 and 8.5 of the volume of 1977 (Cmnd. 7289) and tables 8.2 and 8.4 of the volume for 1978 (Cmnd. 7670)). The Home Office has in hand a national analysis of courts' bail decisions during the first year of the Bail Act's operation and that analysis will cover the incidence of re-offending on bail. We are considering whether further research is needed in this field.