§ Mr. FabricantTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement regarding the rate of successful convictions obtained in magistrates courts in Staffordshire in the last 12 months. [130597]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeThe number of defendants convicted in magistrates courts in Staffordshire was 31,891 in 1998 and 22,372 in 1999 (provisional figure for January-September only). In both periods, convictions represented 76 per cent. of the total number of defendants prosecuted for all offences.