§ Mr. OlnerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what assessment he has made as to the adequacy of records kept in respect of prosecutions for child abduction;
(2) how many prosecutions relating to child abduction offences there have been in England and Wales in each of the last five years.
§ Mr. JackDetails of prosecutions for child abduction under sections 1 and 2 of the Child Abduction Act 1984 are contained in the annual publication "Criminal Statistics England and Wales". They include both prosecutions undertaken by the Director of Public Prosecutios and prosecutions instigated by individuals. As explained in appendix 2 to "Criminal Statistics England and Wales 1991", Cm 2134, statistics about court proceedings include some in which there has been no police involvement at the prosecution stage, for example in cases where the250W prosecution has been brought by a private individual, but the reporting of private prosecutions is known to be incomplete.
The available information about the number of prosecutions for offences relating to child abduction under sections 1 and 2 of the Child Abduction Act 1984 for 1987 to 1991 is given in the table. 1992 data are not expected to be available until autumn 1993.
England and Wales—Offence 1Child Abduction Number 1987 52 1988 56 1989 67 1990 66 1991 89 1Child Abduction Act, 1984, Sections 1 and 2.