§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will update the figures given in appendices 4 and 5 to the Home Office memorandum published with the second report of the Home Affairs Committee on Race Relations and the "sus" law for the years 1979 and 1980.
§ Mr. Whitelaw[pursuant to his reply, 19 May 1981, c. 52]: To provide figures for subsequent years on the same basis would involve disproportionate cost. The information available for 1979 is given in the following table and the difference in coverage is described in footnote *; corresponding information for 1980 is not yet available.
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Persons proceeded against for offences of being a suspected persons frequenting a public place with intent to commit an arrestable offence* by police force area England and Wales 1979 Police force area Number Defendants per million of population† Number Rank order║ Avon and Somerset 11 8 23 Bedfordshire 1 2 33 Cambridgeshire — — 41 Cheshire 26 28 8 Cleveland 1 2 33 Cumbria 6 13 13
Police force area Number Defendants per million of population† Number Rank order║ Derbyshire 6 7 25 Devon and Cornwall 12 9 21 Dorset 4 7 25 Durham 6 10 18 Essex 5 4 30 Gloucestershire — — 41 Greater Manchester 173 65 3 Hampshire 19 12 15 Hertfordshire 9 11 16 Humberside 20 24 9 Kent 3 2 33 Lancashire 47 34 6 Leicestershire 5 6 27 Lincolnshire 1 2 33 London, City of‡ 30 ‡— ‡— Merseyside 519 339 1 Metropolitan Police District‡ 1,597 221 2 Norfolk 6 9 21 Northamptonshire 3 6 27 Northumbria 56 39 4 North Yorkshire 10 15 11 Nottinghamshire 11 11 16 South Yorkshire 19 15 11 Staffordshire 8 8 23 Suffolk 2 3 31 Surrey 2 3 31 Sussex 8 6 27 Thames Valley 23 13 13 Warwickshire 1 2 33 West Mercia 10 10 18 West Midlands 83 31 7 West Yorkshire 46 22 10 Wiltshire 1 2 33 England 2,790 60 Dyfed-Powys 1 2 33 Gwent 1 2 33 North Wales 6 10 18 South Wales 49 38 5 Wales 57 21 England and Wales 2,847 58 Percentage of persons tried who were found guilty 74 * Not comparable with figures for earlier years as, under the new counting procedures, the figures for 1979 exclude persons given a more severe penalty for an indictable offence at the same proceedings. It is estimated that the effect on the numbers was a reduction of about 20 per cent. † The population figures used are for persons of all ages. Figures for those aged 10 and over are not readily available by police force area. ‡ The figure for the Metropolitan Police District includes the City of London. ║ That is, the position in which the forces appear if listed in order of usage: Merseyside having the highest rate and Cambridgeshire and Gloucestershire the lowest.