§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give such information, either readily available, or 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 if he will make a statement on the operation of breath tests and the level of positive breath tests.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe official Home Office statistics on breath tests in England and Wales in 1985 including the Christmas period, will not be available until the middle of this year, but the Association of Chief Police Officers has collated provisional figures for roadside screening tests from 31 police forces and this information is given in the table.
568W
Roadside screening breath tests carried out from 22 December 1985 to 1 January 1986 Police force Number of tests Positive results Cambridgeshire 632 43 Cheshire 341 54 Cleveland 54 15 Derbyshire 490 49 Devon and Cornwall 245 98 Dorset 133 33 Essex 493 84 Gloucestershire 139 40 Greater Manchester 890 193 Gwent 314 27 Hampshire 465 112 Hertfordshire 224 27 Humberside 161 51 Kent 132 46 Lancashire 484 119 Lincolnshire 206 34 Merseyside 104 60 Norfolk 265 23 Northumbria 116 80 North Wales 1,134 142 Nottinghamshire *733 *115 South Wales 113 51 South Yorkshire 629 92 Staffordshire 445 23 Surrey 287 51 Sussex 620 77 Thames Valley 827 211 Warwickshire 137 20 West Mercia 188 47 West Yorkshire 359 149 Wiltshire 152 37 Totals 15,511 2,203 *Figures relate to the period from 19 December 1985 to 2 January 1986.