HC Deb 21 December 1979 vol 976 cc424-5W
Mr. Arthur Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give, for the longest and most convenient period of time, on monthly, weekly, or other comparable dates, the total number of cases reported to the police of muggings and attacks upon the person; in how many of these cases arrests were made and with what results; how many cases there were of the police arresting persons for having committed these offences on the public highway in the London borough of Newham; and what action has been or is being taken to reduce these types of offences.

Mr. Brittan

"Mugging" is a term with no legal definition. The most recent numbers of offences of "violence against the person" and "robbery" recorded by the police in England and Wales up to the third quarter of 1979 were published in table 1 of the Home Office statistical bulletin 11/79, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House; longer runs of figures are to be found in tables 2.1 and 2.5 of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales 1978"—Cmnd. 7670. The number of arrests resulting is not collected centrally but the number of persons cautioned, proceeded against in magistrates' courts, and tried at the crown court for violence against the person or robbery, is published annually in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales"—tables 34, 1(a) and 5(a) of the volume for 1978, Cmnd. 7670

I shall write to the hon. Member about the information available relating to arrests in the London borough of Newham.

Action to reduce these types of offences in any particular area is primarily the responsibility of the chief officer of police concerned.

Mr. Arthur Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give, for the longest and most convenient period of time, the number of cases reported to the police in the London borough of Newham where rape has been alleged, the number of cases where persons have been arrested and charged and the results of charges where prosecution has ensued; and what actions have been or are being taken to reduce these types of offences.

Mr. Brittan

The information requested is not readily available. I shall write to the hon. Member.