§ Mr. EnrightTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many dogs, registered with the index of exempt dogs, have been notified to the index as having been voluntarily destroyed;
(2) how many dogs were registered with the index of exempt dogs, in accordance with section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act, by 30 November 1991; how many were registered by 1 March 1992; and how many remained registered by 30 November 1993;
(3) pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Antrim, East (Mr. Beggs) of 14 January, Official Report, 334W columns 334–36, how many defendants prosecuted under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 pleaded (a) guilty or (b) not guilty.
(4) how many individuals have been prosecuted under section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 since its inception;
(5) how many compensation payments were made under the Dangerous Dogs Compensation and Exemption Schemes Order 1991—SI., 1991, No. 1744; and how many dogs have been destroyed under this order;
(6) how many forms were applied for to register dogs with the index of exempt dogs; and how many of these were returned (a) complete and (b) incomplete; and how many have not been returned to the index.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe Index of Exempted Dogs issued 8,573 application forms to applicants, of which 7,015 were returned to the index: of these 5,223 were complete and resulted in the issue of a certificate of exemption. Of the remaining 1,792 applications, 709 were incomplete.
Information is not available on the number of certificates of exemption in force on the various dates mentioned. As at 25 January 1994 there were 4,584 certificates remaining in force.
The number of dogs destroyed under the compensation scheme was 294; payments were made in each case. The index has been notified of 576 dogs which have been voluntarily destroyed.
Information is not collected on how defendants pleaded in Dangerous Dogs Act proceedings. Information on the number of prosecutions under section 1 of the 1991 Act has been collected since 1 January 1992 and I refer to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Antrim, East (Mr. Beggs) on 14 January at columns 334–36. Statistics for 1993 are expected to be available in autumn 1994.