§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) pursuant to the answer of 16 January, if he will estimate the cost of providing in full the information requested by the hon. Member for Leicester, East regarding the number of people stopped and breathalysed during the Christmas holiday period;
(2) pursuant to the answer of 16 January, if he will now give such information as may be provided without incurring disproportionate cost regarding the number of people stopped and breathalysed by the police during the Christmas period, by force area throughout England and Wales; and when he expects the full information requested to be available;
(3) if he will take steps to publish each January, a full list by force area of the number of people stopped and breathalysed by the police during the Christmas holiday and new year period, and the number of breath tests which proved positive.
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§ Mr. HurdPolice forces submit throughout the year returns to the Home Office on breath tests but the returns take some time to compile and process and all police forces have not yet compiled their figures covering the Christmas and new year period. Considerable disruption and expense would be involved in asking them to alter the standing arrangements for submitting these returns now and bringing forward the normal schedule for processing them. When all the returns for 1983 have been received it is planned to publish, probably in April or May, a statistical bulletin on the use of breath tests in 1983, including a special analysis of the figures for the Christmas period.