§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons have been(a) charged and (b) convicted of offences for breaches of the Official Secrets Act in each of the last five years. [117259]
§ Mr. BoatengData on the numbers of persons charged are not collected centrally.
The available information comes from the Home Office court proceedings database which only identifies those defendants who were prosecuted under the Act for triable either-way offences. Between 1994 and 1998 inclusive it shows that there were three such prosecutions. In 1997, one person was prosecuted, convicted and given a custodial sentence. In 1998, two people were prosecuted of which one was convicted and given a custodial sentence.