HC Deb 06 March 1986 vol 93 cc235-6W
Mr. Tony Banks

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for reports from chief constables detailing a breakdown of reasons for the detention of those persons held for over 24 hours under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, since 1 January; and if he will make a statement;

(2) if he will call for reports from chief constables as to how many persons have been detained under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, by district, since it came into force on 1 January for (a) up to 24 hours, (b) up to 36 hours, (c) up to 72 hours and (d) up to 96 hours.

Mr. Giles Shaw

Parliament has decided that chief officers of police should be required to publish an annual report of the numbers of persons kept in police detention for more than 24 hours and subsequently released without charge; the number of applications for warrants of further detention and the results of the applications; and, in relation to each warrant of further detention, the period of further detention authorised by it, the period which the person named in it spent in police detention on its authority and whether he was charged or released without charge. This is provided for in section 50 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. Information on the operation of those parts of the Act for which chief officers of police are required to keep figures (under sections 5, 50 and 55) will be published in Home Office statistical bulletins. It is planned to issue the first of these in the middle of this year, giving statistics on the operation of the Act in the first quarter of 1986. We do not believe the additional statistical exercise would be justified.

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