HC Deb 24 July 2002 vol 389 cc1450-3W
Mrs. Mahon

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what percentage of the breath tests carried out by police officers proved(a) over the legal drink-drive limit and (b) positive, but not over the legal drink-drive limit, broken down by police force, in each of the last 10 years. [70954]

(2) how many breath tests were carried out by police officers, broken down by police force, in each of the last 10 years. [70953]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth

Since 1992 police forces have been required to supply centrally the total number of screening tests and the sum of positive and refused tests as given in the tables.

Table A: Percentage of positive or refused screening breath tests, by police force area. 1992–2000
England and Wales Police force area 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 19981 19991 Percentages 20001
Merseyside 49 28 16 16 17 17 13 12 17
Metropolitan 8 6 8 13 12 13 13 11 10
Norfolk 9 16 18 20 16 11 7 7 8
Northamptonshire 18 20 20 20 17 21 26 23 25
Northumbria 54 51 49 51 38 30 27 28 27
North
Yorkshire 35 43 37 35 22 16 15 16 17
Nottinghamshire 32 40 40 43 29 25 27 29 28
South
Yorkshire 29 22 21 18 16 14 13 12 11
Staffordshire 24 29 30 20 15 11 14 18 16
Suffolk 20 18 17 14 14 9 8 7 9
Surrey 17 19 19 16 15 13 11 14 13
Sussex 16 16 16 15 11 10 11 11 9
Thames
Valley 12 10 11 12 14 17 15 16 17
Warwickshire 34 29 18 13 12 12 10 12 13
West Mercia 14 11 11 9 11 10 8 13 25
West
Midlands 34 40 35 29 18 14 25 23 28
West
Yorkshire 24 28 24 17 17 19 20 21 23
Wiltshire 15 16 17 15 21 17 15 15 15
Dyfed-Powys 17 16 17 15 14 9 12 10 11
Gwent 9 13 12 12 10 10 10 10 10
North Wales 11 11 10 12 12 12 10 10 11
South Wales 22 20 18 17 16 11 13 13 15
Total 16 15 14 13 13 12 13 12 13
1Since 1998 comparisons between the number of positive breath tests reported by each police force and the number of court proceedings for drink/driving related offences have indicated that there has been under-reporting in a number of forces. Appropriate adjustments have been made.

Table B: Number of screening breath tests, by police force area, 1992–2000
England and Wales Police force area 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Percentages 2000
Avon and Somerset 5,400 4,000 3,800 6,700 15,100 16,000 19,700 19,200 15,800
Bedfordshire 6,000 4,900 8,200 6,100 6,400 6,000 5,300 2,900 3,300
Cambridgeshire 11,700 16,000 16,500 16,300 16,200 19,100 17,800 13,600 12,800
Cheshire 9,400 12,300 8,200 15,300 21,300 25,500 23,300 20,500 15,800
Cleveland 12,600 10,100 15,000 28,200 26,100 31,600 34,200 28,600 18,800
Cumbria 5,000 6,000 7,000 7,800 9,800 11,200 9,400 7,100 6,100
Derbyshire 9,100 14,700 17,000 20,500 28,600 34,500 35,700 49,200 52,000
Devon and Cornwall 6,900 5,600 5,600 6,800 9,100 15,200 15,700 14,700 13,000
Dorset 4,600 5,800 6,800 5,800 7,400 9,100 10,100 9,200 12,300
Durham 5,800 6,700 6,900 4,500 4,100 4,300 7,400 12,700 15,300
Essex 21,500 28,000 38,200 27,700 32,400 28,700 28,400 24,100 27,200
Gloucestershire 3,700 2,700 4,200 5,200 7,000 9,400 9,300 8,300 8,200
Greater
Manchester 27,700 47,700 78,500 102,400 100,400 95,600 31,200 21,500 27,300
Hampshire 9,900 10,200 14,100 17,000 18,200 25,000 27,300 31,600 35,200
Hertfordshire 5,500 5,700 7,100 6,400 5,900 7,400 8,100 7,000 6,000
Humberside 8,000 6,500 6,800 8,900 7,500 6,500 8,300 8,100 9,400
Kent 20,200 17,200 17,000 9,200 8,100 9,100 27,500 32,700 32,200
Lancashire 6,100 6,500 8,600 15,900 26,100 21,300 20,300 19,100 15,500
Leicestershire 6,300 10,300 15,500 11,700 10,300 10,200 20,200 21,100 18,600
Lincolnshire 12,600 12,600 11,600 15,600 15,800 20,200 25,900 21,000 12,100
London, City of 2,200 2,800 4,400 3,300 4,500 3,600 3,300 1,700 1,100
Merseyside 5,300 10,700 16,000 15,300 15,900 14,800 18,700 18,600 12,800
Metropolitan 132,300 143,000 141,600 123,300 123,000 137,900 111,400 99,800 93,800
Norfolk 7,700 3,900 3,500 4,200 5,500 9,200 12,400 11,600 9,100
Northamptonshire 5,000 6,400 6,000 5,100 7,400 7,100 4,700 5,300 5,800
Northumbria 4,600 5,500 6,100 5,800 8,400 11,900 12,200 12,500 12,700

Table B: Number of screening breath tests, by police force area, 1992–2000
England and Wales Police force area 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Percentages 2000
North
Yorkshire 4,300 3,900 4,500 4,800 7,800 10,500 9,900 8,100 6,700
Nottinghamshire 6,800 5,000 5,500 5,700 9,300 11,500 8,900 8,400 8,400
South
Yorkshire 6,500 9,400 11,300 11,000 13,300 14,200 12,600 16,100 19,200
Staffordshire 6,800 4,600 5,300 6,300 9,700 13,800 15,400 10,100 7,700
Suffolk 5,900 6,300 5,900 7,500 8,200 12,300 15,600 15,100 9,200
Surrey 8,300 8,100 8,500 9,300 11,200 11,200 11,400 11,700 12,400
Sussex 10,900 15,800 16,000 15,900 24,300 26,100 17,400 17,900 20,800
Thames
Valley 29,700 48,300 51,400 47,200 39,700 33,100 34,200 30,300 30,800
Warwickshire 2,300 2,700 6,100 8,200 9,200 8,700 8,700 8,600 7,100
West Mercia 17,500 18,500 18,400 19,900 18,100 18,300 19,100 12,300 8,900
West
Midlands 13,700 15,400 14,800 9,100 19,500 22,600 24,100 21,300 16,200
West
Yorkshire 14,500 10,600 11,800 15,800 19,500 23,300 22,900 18,800 18,300
Wiltshire 8,200 8,000 8,000 10,000 6,300 7,400 7,100 6,800 6,500
Dyfed-Powys 5,400 4,300 4,500 5,000 5,900 8,500 9,200 9,900 7,400
Gwent 6,800 6,000 5,600 4,900 9,300 12,200 11,200 10,600 10,100
North Wales 16,100 13,400 15,900 14,900 14,900 13,300 15,200 15,900 15,000
South Wales 12,400 13,400 10,400 12,200 14,900 23,100 24,900 20,700 17,800
Total 531,300 599,600 678,500 702,700 781,100 860,400 815,500 764,500 714,800

Source:

Home Office (RDS/CCJU) 19 July 2002.