§ Sir Peter EmeryTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the most recent available statistics on the number of offences and the number of persons involved who have over the last number of years committed crimes while on bail; and what steps he is taking to deal with this problem.
§ Mr. MacleanInformation on the numbers offending while on bail is not collected centrally. A Home Office research report,"RPU Report 65, Offending While on Bail; A Survey of Recent Studies", gives information on recent studies relating to offences while on bail. A copy of this report is available in the Library. The survey concludes that, on average, between 10 and 12 per cent. of defendants are subsequently convicted of an offence committed while on bail and nowhere was the figure more than 17 per cent. The inference from this and other studies is that more than 50,000 offences per year are committed by persons who are on bail.
1171WThe Government are committed to preventing offending on bail, through legislation, and by improving the information available to bail decision makers.
The Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill contains seven measures to do with bail. In particular, defendants charged with offences which appear to the court to have been committed while on bail will lose the "right" to bail, and the police have been given powers, to detain to prevent offending, and to arrest without warrant where police bail is breached. The Bail (Amendment) Act 1993, which came into force in the summer, gives the prosecution a right, in certain circumstances, to appeal against the grant of bail. Additionally, the Criminal Justice Act 1993 requires the courts to consider that an offence committed on bail should be treated more seriously when sentencing.