§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people convicted of assaulting(a) ambulance personnel and (b) other emergency services' personnel in the last 12 months for which figures are available received a (i) custodial sentence, (ii) community service order and (iii) fine. [9989]
§ Mr. DenhamThe statistics held centrally on the Home Office's Court Proceedings Database include only the circumstances of an offence if such details are referred to in legislation. Assaults on ambulance personnel and other emergency services' personnel excluding the police are not separately identified in legislation from other offences of assault and so details of convictions of offenders found guilty of such offences are not centrally available.
Summary offences of assault on police officers can be identified and details of convictions for this offence in 1999, broken down by type of sentence, are given in the table. It is not possible to identify more serious offences of assault on the police.
Data for 2000 will be available in November.
719W
Persons convicted and sentenced at all courts for assaulting a constable by type of sentence, England and Wales, 1999 Offence/convictions Offence description Assaulting a constable Principal statute Police Act 1996, Sec. 89(1) and offences against similar provisions in Local Acts Total convicted 6,117 Total sentenced 6,133 of which: Unsuspended sentence of imprisonment1 1,281
Persons convicted and sentenced at all courts for assaulting a constable by type of sentence, England and Wales, 1999 Offence/convictions Community service order 971 Fine 1,319 1 Comprises persons sentenced to a secure training order, to a young offender institution or to an unsuspended sentence of imprisonment Note:
All data given refer to the principal offence. Some persons sentenced may have been convicted in a previous year