§ Mr. Soleyasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is his Department's estimate, over any convenient period, of the percentage of people convicted for any criminal offence where the offence was committed under the influence of alcohol;
(2) what is his Department's estimate, in any convenient period, of the number of people convicted in magistrates' courts of offences of violence committed under the influence of alcohol.
§ Mr. BrittanInformation on those committing an offence when under the influence of alcohol is not collected centrally on a comprehensive basis and there are no official estimates of the kind requested. The number of persons found guilty of offences of drunkenness or of offences of driving, or being in charge of, a motor vehicle whilst under the influence of drink or drugs is published annually in " Criminal Statistics, England and Wales" (table 10(a), page 420, and 10(b), pages 423 and 425, of the volume for 1978, Cmnd. 7670). The number of court appearances at which there was a finding of guilt for an offence of drunkenness and also for another offence, by the type of the most serious other offence is published annually in " Offences of Drunkenness, England and Wales" (table 7 of the volume for 1978, Cmnd. 7707), but in some cases the offences may not have been committed on the same occasion.