§ Mr. Mike O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the report to his Department by Patricia Morgan on offending while on bail; a survey of recent studies, in respect of the Northumbria police research into the subject; and what changes he proposes to make in Government policies as a result of the report.
§ Mr. JackThe report referred to, published early in 1992 as paper 65 in the Home Office research and planning unit series, drew together and reviewed research into offending on bail carried out by a number of police forces, including Northumbria.
The report referred to the desirability of establishing agreed methods of producing reliable data, on a national basis, about the incidence and extent of offending on bail. This point is currently being pursued by the Home Office in consultation with the Association of Chief Police Officers. The Northumbria police are also involved in this work.
As I indicated in my reply to the hon. Member for Coventry, South-West (Mr. Butcher) on 28 January at column 789, the incidence of offending on bail is, of course, a matter for concern and work is in hand to tackle the problem, including action research in five areas which 733W is designed to identify the scope for improving the bail decision-taking process, thus minimising the risk of offending on bail.