§ 36. Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many stop and search operations took place in 1986 in the Metropolitan police area; how many of these resulted in (a) arrests and (b) successful prosecutions; and what were the equivalent figures for 1985.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggInformation on the number of stops and searches in 1986 in each police force area, recorded in accordance with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, will be published shortly in a Home Office statistical bulletin. I understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that the available information for stops and searches in 1985 relates to the last three quarters of 1985 only, during which a total of 24,600 searches of persons and vehicles were made, resulting in 4,000 arrests. Prior to 1 April 1985, the information collected related to all stops and was collected on an annual basis only; figures for the first quarter of 1985 could only be provided at disproportionate cost. From 1 April 1985 a force order was introduced and information was collected in line with the requirements of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 in anticipation of its implementation on 1 January 1986. The figures collected in 1985 will not be comparable with those for 1986 because the 1984 Act extended the powers of search available.