§ Mr. LyonsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are on the Sexual Offenders Register; and how many were on the register in 1997. [85384]
§ Hilary BennThe Sex Offenders Act 1997 requires offenders cautioned for, convicted of, or found not guilty by reason of insanity of an offence specified in Schedule One to the Act since the date of its implementation to notify the police of their names, addresses, dates of birth and intentions to travel abroad for eight days or longer. The requirements of the Act also apply to offenders who were serving a sentence for a relevant offence, either in prison or in the community, at the date of its implementation (1 September 1997). There is, however, no central register of sex offenders and offenders subject to the requirements of the Sex Offenders Act are not separately identified in criminal statistics.
Information on the number of 'registered' sex offenders in a police area is submitted by police and probation services under the requirements placed on them established by section 67 of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000.
As at 31 March 2002, police forces in England and Wales had notified the Home Office of 18,513 'registered' sex offenders.
I am informed by the Scottish Executive that as at 28 August 2002, 1,816 registered sex offenders were recorded by the Scottish Criminal Record Office as being administered by Scottish Police Forces.
The provisions of the Sex Offenders Act 1997 were commenced on 1 September 1997. A Home Office evaluation of the way the Act had been implemented was published in July 2000. This indicated that at 31 August 1998, one year after implementation, 8,608 sex offenders were subject to the Act's requirements. Figures covering the last three months of 1997 are not available.