§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his current estimate of the average number of people each week involved for the first time in a serious criminal offence; and what was the equivalent figure in 1987. [15839]
§ Mr. MacleanInformation routinely available centrally relates to the number convicted of a standard list offence for the first time.
The latest available figures are for 1994, when the estimated weekly average for such convictions was 2,300. The equivalent figure for 1987 was 2,900.
Offences included in the "standard list" are given in appendices 4 and 5 of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, 1995" (Cm 3421).
These include all indictable and some of the more serious summary offences.