§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many accesses were made to each category of stolen and suspect vehicle index of the police national computer over the last year; and what has been the percentage growth in the use of these categories over the year.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThough the index of vehicles comprises vehicles in various categories, the records are not kept in these separate categories, but are indexed by vehicle registration number. It is not therefore possible to give the information in the form requested, but, in all, there were 19,313,501 accesses to the stolen and suspect vehicle and vehicle owners index of the police national computer in the year to 30 June 1989, an increase of 0.95 per cent. over the previous year.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many accesses were made to each category of the wanted and missing persons index of the police national computer over the last year; and what has been the percentage growth in use of these categories over the year.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThough the wanted and missing persons' index of the police national computer comprises 395W records of persons in various categories, the records are not kept in these categories, but are indexed by name. It is not therefore possible to give the information in the form requested but, in all, there were 1,987,155 accesses to the wanted and missing persons' index of the police national computer in the year to 30 June 1989. This is an increase of 7.2 per cent. over the previous year.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many accesses were made to each index of the police national computer over the last year; whether he will include in these statistics an indication of the number of access requests that could search more than one index.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThe total number of accesses to each of the indices of the police national computer in the year to 30 June 1989 was as follows:
Index Number of Accesses 1. Stolen and Suspect Vehicles 19,313,501 2. Vehicle Owners 3. Chassis/Engine Numbers 354,337 4. Fingerprints 192,416 5. Fingerprints (Scene of Crime) 14,608 6. Criminal Names 1,083,116 7. Wanted/Missing Persons 1,987,155 8. Disqualified Drivers 811,960 9. Convictions 758,270 10. Major Investigations 21,328 11. Crime Pattern Analysis 371,684 There have also been the following joint accesses: To indices 6 and 91 1,083,116 To indices 6, 7 and 9 1,738,002 To indices 6, 7, 8 and 9 7,654,267 To indices 4, 6 and 9 615,754 1 All accesses to the criminal names index will in addition automatically generate information from the convictions application.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current size of each category found in the stolen and suspect vehicle index of the police national computer; and whether he can include in these statistics an indication of the minimum and maximum size of each category in the index over the year.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThe information is as follows:
Category Current Minimum Maximum Confirmed lost or obtained by deception 387,822 372,611 387,822 Lost or stolen 395,171 378,478 395,171 Obtained by deception 157 251 157 Found 26,188 24,860 27,996 Removed 13,045 12,667 20,346 Street to street 118 109 200 Repossessed by finance 0 0 0 Company — — — Suspect 787 787 1,095 Police Vehicle 3,862 3,593 3,862 Blocked 5,779 5,255 5,779 Information 17,620 15,454 17,620 Seen 7,014 6,812 8,012
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current size of each category found in the wanted and missing persons index of the police national computer; and whether he can include in these statistics an indication of the minimum and maximum size of each category in the index over the year.
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§ Mr. Douglas HoggThe information is as follows:
Category Current Minimum Maximum Wanted 35,466 34,749 37,194 Fails to appear 28,646 27,066 28,646 Suspect 2,325 2,325 4,891 Impending prosecution 68 68 95 Deserter 1,722 1,440 1,819 Locate 37,800 33,324 37,800 Missing 2,346 1,977 2,346 Found 22 10 24 Absconder: from care 504 410 524 from hospital 55 34 58 from detention 3 1 4 from youth custody 107 89 117 from prison 746 609 746 from remand 3 3 9 from school 32 28 53 Recall: from detention 0 0 0 from youth custody 0 0 0 from prison 283 262 297
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current size of each index of the police national computer; and whether he can include in these statistics an indication of the minimum and maximum size of each category in the index over the last year.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThe information is as follows:
Index Current Minimum Maximum Vehicle owners 41,386,599 39,948,809 41,386,599 Stolen vehicles 475,199 461,234 478,104 Chassis-engine numbers 791,850 755,425 792,028 Wanted/missing persons 112,384 107,707 112,384 Cross reference 963,010 939,279 963,010 Disqualified drivers 368,214 361,716 368,214 Convictions 2,929,865 2,539,276 2,929,865 Criminal names 5,457,187 5,301,962 5,457,187 Fingerprints 4,004,441 3,881,363 4,004,441 Crime pattern analysis 13,394 11,786 13,394 Extremists crime index 142 112 142 Major investigation 326,362 301,787 326,362
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has information as to the number of accesses made to the police national computer; and whether he can give the proportion of access requests made to the vehicle indexes of the police national computer.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThis information is collected on the basis of occasional monthly samples and annual totals are not therefore available. The last sample was taken in Febrary 1989. In that month, the number of transactions made to the police national computer (PNC) by each constabulary, and the proportion of these transactions which were made to the vehicle indices on the PNC, were as follows:
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Constabulary Nos. of transactions in February 1989 Proportion of transactions made to vehicle indices Avon and Somerset 76,595 60.3 Bedfordshire 32,180 61.1 British Transport Police 11,083 33.3 Cambridgeshire 29,254 61.9 Central 9,733 52.6 Cheshire 39,560 57.4 City of London 8,580 60.9
Constabulary Nos. of transactions in February 1989 Proportion of transactions made to vehicle indices Cleveland 27,478 60.2 Cumbria 31,387 59.0 Derbyshire 37,040 67.5 Devon and Cornwall 54,430 59.1 Dorset 28,779 58.5 Dumfries and Galloway 8,681 50.2 Durham 30,236 57.4 Dyfed-Powys 17,435 46.6 Essex 73,061 62.0 Fife 10,992 56.6 Gloucestershire 24,595 62.9 Grampian 18,651 57.0 Greater Manchester 178,420 56.6 Guernsey 888 15.3 Gwent 13,122 58.4 Hampshire 69,840 52.4 Hertfordshire 30,679 58.1 Humberside 40,351 57.9 Isle of Man 2,820 76.1 Jersey 3,509 16.8 Kent 104,167 59.2 Lancashire 88,280 57.1 Leicestershire 30,345 55.8 Lincolnshire 17,553 64.3 Lothian and Borders 51,489 53.3 Merseyside 76,081 54.0 Metropolitan 612,032 51.0 Norfolk 28,181 68.3 North Wales 21,922 48.5 North Yorkshire 38,095 67.4 Northamptonshire 26,033 63.6 Northern 9,174 51.9 Northumberland 81,803 63.8 Nottinghamshire 52,149 69.9 South Wales 68,189 64.6 South Yorkshire 58,966 67.6 Staffordshire 32,507 58.1 Strathclyde 114,162 38.8 Suffolk 22,104 57.8 Surrey 31,849 57.4 Sussex 67,668 53.8 Tayside 22,575 55.4 Thames Valley 84,200 57.0 Warwickshire 19,495 65.7 West Mercia 34,955 60.3 West Midlands 165,088 65.0 West Yorkshire 94,156 52.7 Wiltshire 24,473 66.6
§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place a copy of the consultants' report on the future of the police national computer organisation in the Library.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggI refer the hon. Member to the reply given to a question from the hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr. Grant) on 14 July at column661.