§ Mr. SweeneyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for each police force in England and Wales in 1981 and 1991(a) the number of those people who appeared in court who entered an initial plea of guilty and (b) the percentage of all those who appeared in court which the figure in (a) represents.
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§ Mr. JackThe readily available information which is collected in selected sample weeks in February, June and October of each year for proceedings for indictable offences, including either-way, at magistrates courts, is given in the table.
Information for 1985 and earlier years is not available. Information on the type of plea for committals for trial dealt with by the Crown court by circuit, is published annually in the command paper "Judicial statistics, England and Wales". Table 6.7 of the 1991 issue (Cm 1990) gives data for 1990. Information for police force areas is not available.
Table A Defendants pleading guilty at a summary trial as a percentage of all those proceeded1 against at magistrates' courts for indictable
offences by police force area, 1986 and 1991
Police force area 1986 1991 Avon and Somerset 60 44 Bedfordshire 58 57 Cambridgeshire 75 46 Cheshire 66 52 Cleveland 71 50 Cumbria 69 64 Derbyshire 63 50 Devon and Cornwall 64 62 Dorset 274 52 Durham 59 45 Essex 64 54 Gloucestershire 72 59 Greater Manchester 62 51 Hampshire 68 53 Hertfordshire 63 56 Humberside 69 59 Kent 66 47 Lancashire 65 46 Leicestershire 71 53 Lincolnshire 63 53 London, City of 260 248 Merseyside 50 48 Metropolitan Police District 55 44 Norfolk 59 52 Northamptonshire 269 50 Northumbria 57 46 North Yorkshire 67 60 Nottinghamshire 65 52 South Yorkshire 64 58 Staffordshire 74 52 Suffolk 73 78 Surrey 72 52 Sussex 75 58 Thames Valley 66 51 Warwickshire 257 253 West Mercia 62 58 West Midlands 59 48 West Yorkshire 63 53 Wiltshire 68 57 Dyfed-Powys 260 52 Gwent 72 45 North Wales 60 50 South Wales 61 52 England and Wales 62 51 1 Includes proceedings where the defendant is committed for trial to the Crown Court or the case is withdrawn or discontinued. 2 Based on less than 200 persons proceeded against; percentages based on small numbers are less reliable and subject to greater error.