§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons have been stopped each year since 1970 under the laws relating to being a suspected person loitering with intent, and of these, each year how many were (a) detained for questioning, (b) charged and (c) later convicted.
§ Mr. Brittan[pursuant to his reply, 7 February 1980, c. 287]: The numbers of persons stopped and the numbers detained for questioning are not collected centrally, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The only information readily available relates to the numbers of persons arrested for such offences in the Metropolitan Police district since 1976 and is given in the table below, together with the information readily available on the numbers of persons proceeded against and found guilty in magistrates' courts for such offences. Information on persons proceeded against and
20WDrugs Act 1971 are published annually in the reports of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary and of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. This information is summarised in the following table; it was not collected before 1972 and information for 1979 is not yet available. The table also gives the information readily available on the outcome for those stopped and searched; other information could be obtained only at disroportionate cost. However, the total number of persons found guilty in the United Kingdom of offences under Drugs Acts in the years 1973–78 was published in table 3 Home Office statistical bulletin 6/79, a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
found guilty in England and Wales of offences of being a suspected person frequenting a public place under section 4 of the Vagrancy Act 1824 are published annually in the "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales"—offence classification 186 in table 1(a) of the volume for 1978 (Cmnd. 7670).
PERSONS ARRESTED AND PERSONS PROCEEDED AGAINST IN MAGISTRATES' COURTS FOR FREQUENTING WITH INTENT TO COMMIT AN ARRESTABLE OFFENCE Metropolitan Police District Number of persons Proceeded against in the magistrates' courts Year Arrested and proceeded against by means of a charge, referral to a juvenile bureau, a caution or in some other way Total Found guilty 1976 2,112 1,914 Not readily available 1977 2,366 1,890 1978 2,331 1,970 1,520 1979 1,894 Not yet available