§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many publications have been confiscated in each of the last three years under the Obscene Publications Act 1959.
§ Mr. MacleanFigures for seizures and forfeitures under section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 are not collected centrally. However, from inquiries which have been made of the two largest forces in England and Wales—the Metropolitan police and Greater Manchester—both of which have dedicated obscene publications squads, I understand that a total of 264,504 items and 234,386 items were seized by them in 1991 and 1992 respectively. A total of 74,690 items have been seized by the same police forces so far this year.