§ Mr. StunellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many written parliamentary questions tabled to his Department between 19 October 707W 1999 and 20 April 2000 have not received answers, citing as the reason commercial confidentiality or other confidentiality. [131229]
§ Mr. Straw[holding answer 20 July 2000]: My Department answered a total of 2,751 written parliamentary questions between 19 October and 20 April 2000.
It is always my practice to provide as full a reply as possible to all parliamentary questions, and to provide all relevant information even where that specifically requested is not available. Where, occasionally, information is withheld, the reasons for non-disclosure are consistent with the exemptions contained within the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information Section Second Edition (1997). For example:
information which could harm national security or defence, (paragraph la);information whose disclosure could prejudice the enforcement or proper administration of the law, including the prevention, investigation or detection of crime, or the apprehension or prosecution of offenders (paragraph 4b);
Year to March 1998 Year to March 1999 Year to March 2000 Offences Percentage cleared up Offences Percentage cleared up Offences Percentage cleared up Violence against the person 296 75.3 661 64.8 1,000 39.3 Sexual offences 89 100.0 29 41.4 60 36.7 Robbery 43 27.9 28 10.7 49 4.1 Burglary1 — — 904 15.6 1,054 7.5 Theft and handling 2,600 15.2 2,481 13.0 3,026 8.7 Fraud and forgery 373 25.7 293 19.1 466 9.9 Criminal damage 1,355 14.8 1,242 11.1 1,516 7.5 Drug offences1 — — 118 2115.3 103 95.1 Other notifiable offences 54 72.2 51 45.1 59 20.3 Total 5,657 21.7 5,807 21.7 7,333 14.0 1 Data for the year to March 1998 are not available 2 Clear up rates are based on crimes detected in a given period compared to crimes recorded in that period, because some crimes detected in the period may have been recorded in a previous one the clear up rate can exceed 100 per cent. Notes:
1. The rules for recording crimes changed in April 1998 which led to a large increase in the number recorded, see Home Office Statistical Bulletin 18/99 'Recorded Crime Statistics, England and Wales April 1998 to March 1999' for more details
2. The definition of clear ups changed in April 1999, to exclude certain types of police action that would previously have been recorded as clear ups, and led to a decrease in clear up rates, see Home Office Statistical Bulletin 12/00 'Recorded Crime Statistics, England and Wales April 1999 to March 2000' for more details