§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish a table showing juveniles and vulnerable adults who were (a) recorded as missing from outside the Metropolitan police district, including overseas, and (b) who were traced or identified, broken down under each heading by age and sex, for each of the last ten available years; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Mellor[pursuant to his reply, 16 May 1985, c. 172]: I understand from the Commissioner of the Police of the Metropolis that the available information from the missing persons bureau of the Metropolitan police is as given in the following tables. Comprehensive statistics on missing persons are not collected centrally. The procedures for the recording of persons who were missing for a short period only were improved in 1984 and this may have increased the numbers recorded by the missing persons bureau.
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Table 2 Juveniles and vulnerable adults, ‡ recorded as missing from outside the Metropolitan police district including overseas' and traced or identified United Kingdom other than MPD, and overseas Number of persons * Year Male Female Total Under 14 14–17 18+ Total Under 14 14–17 18+ Total 1975 13 80 175 268 10 173 134 317 585 1976 11 54 197 262 10 135 122 267 529 1977 75 180 260 515 32 283 212 527 1,042 1978 30 108 265 403 22 257 225 504 907 1979 19 126 254 399 11 219 204 434 833 1980 19 108 213 340 3 151 157 311 651 1981 22 130 237 389 5 140 167 312 701 1982 25 95 256 376 6 124 114 244 620 1983 14 136 273 423 15 153 193 361 784 1984║ 36 134 174 344 31 147 120 298 642 * The same person may be reported missing more than once. †These figures are not comprehensive because other forces are not required to report to the Missing Persons Bureau cases of missing juveniles and do not report to the bureau cases relating to non-vulnerable adults. ‡"Vulnerable adults" include the elderly, the sick and those whose manner of disappearance gave cause for special concern. ║The figures for 1984 may have been increased by improved procedures for recording those missing for only a short period.