§ Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from each chief constable in England and Wales of(a) the number of breath tests administered between 20 December and 2 January, for such other dates over the Christmas period for which figures are available, (b) the number of such tests which proved positive, (c) the number of positive tests as a percentage of total tests administered and (d) the number of road accidents recorded in the same periods, for each of the last five years up to 1987–88; and if he will also provide this information for the Metropolitan police area;
(2) if he will call for a report from each chief constable in England and Wales of (a) the number of breath tests administered in each of the past five years, (b) the number of such tests which proved positive, (c) the number of positive tests as a percentage of total tests administered, (d) the number of road accidents recorded in these years and (e) the number of fatal road accidents recorded in these years; and if he will also provide this information for the Metropolitan police area;
(3) if he will call for a report from each chief constable in England and Wales as to the number of fatal road accidents in their police authority area between 20 December and 2 January, or such other dates over the Christmas period for which figures are available, for each of the last five years up to 1987–88.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggInformation on breath tests required and results, by police force area, is published annually in a Home Office statistical bulletin "Statistics of Breath Tests—England and Wales", copies of which are in the Library.
Statistics on road accidents in the past 10 years are contained in the Department of Transport's publication "Road Accidents Great Britain 1986 — The Casualty Report", a copy of which is in the Library.
The official breath test and road accident statistics for 1987 will not be available until the second half of this year.
The Association of Chief Police Officers has, however, collated provisional figures for the number of positive breath tests in the Christmas period, and the number of road accidents involving death or serious injury, in each police force area. These are given in the table:
644W
Police force area Number of positive breath tests (19 December to 1 January) Number of road accidents involving death or injury (same period) Avon and Somerset 100 117 Bedfordshire 51 52 Cambridgeshire 44 56 Cheshire 88 97
Police force area Number of positive breath tests (19 December to 1 January) Number of road accidents involving death or injury (same period) City of London 19 8 Cleveland 60 43 Cumbria 44 40 Derbyshire 63 81 Devon and Cornwall 134 138 Dorset 60 36 Durham 57 44 Dyfed-Powys 33 40 Essex 149 195 Gloucester 82 80 GMP 303 246 Gwent 50 20 Hampshire 152 163 Hertfordshire 72 102 Humberside 95 97 Kent 126 154 Lancashire 155 141 Leicestershire 53 68 Lincolnshire 48 72 Merseyside 110 141 Metropolitan 1,124 1— Norfolk 38 68 Northamptonshire 26 53 Northumbria 111 112 North Wales 91 45 North Yorkshire 60 55 Nottinghamshire 97 96 South Wales 140 104 South Yorkshire 121 66 Staffordshire 78 115 Suffolk 45 85 Surrey 86 74 Sussex 148 108 Thames Valley 243 154 Warwick 21 63 West Mercia 93 83 West Midlands 268 214 West Yorkshire 212 183 Wiltshire 59 49 Total 5,259 13,958 1 Accident figures for Metropolitan police not yet available.
§ Mr. Harry GreenwayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers were breathalysed in England and Wales in(a) the four weeks to Christmas and (b) the week up to and including new year's day; how many of those tested were over the legal limit; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggI refer my hon. Friend to the reply given earlier today to the questions from the hon. Member for Pembroke (Mr. Bennett).