§ Mr. RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many companies were prosecuted for illegally employing children in each of the last 20 years. [141682]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeLimited available information, taken from the Home Office Court Proceedings Database, on the number of prosecutions for offences under the Employment of Children Acts, is given in the table.
Selected years only are given to reduce the cost of this answer below the level of disproportionate costs.
Number of defendants prosecuted at the Magistrates courts for offences under the Employment of Children Acts1, England and Wales 1979,1984, 1989, 1994–1999 Males Females Others2 Total 1979 22 2 12 36 1984 20 3 5 28 1989 30 4 1 35 1994 15 11 1 27 1995 43 31 3— 74 1996 7 30 3— 37 1997 13 26 2 41 1998 16 53 3— 69 1999 34 115 3— 149 1 Offences under Children and Young Persons Act 1933, Sections 4, 18–21 (Section 18 amended by the Children Act 1972), 25, 26, 28, Children and Young Persons Act 1963 Sections 40(1)(a), the Education Act 1996 Sections 558 and 559 and similar provisions in Local Acts. 2 Includes prosecutions of companies and other bodies. 3 Nil return.