HC Deb 24 July 2002 vol 389 c1455W
Mr. Cox

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) men and (b) women are registered on the Sex Offenders Register. [70281]

Mr. Hilary Benn

The 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 to provide certain details to the police. There is, however, no "register" of sex offenders, as such; nor are sex offenders subject to the requirements of the Act separately identified as such in criminal statistics.

Until recently, data on the number of sex offenders subject to the requirements of the Act was collated biannually on a national basis from the police national computer. However this arrangement has been overtaken following guidance issued by the Home Office in respect of the provisions in section 67 of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000. The guidance requires information about the number of sex offenders subject to

Defendants proceeded against and those found guilty at all courts of offences relating to the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products to underage persons England and Wales 1996 to 20001,2
Offence description Statute Year Persons proceeded against Persons found guilty
Sale of tobacco etc. to persons under 16 Children and Young Persons Act 1933 Section 7 as amended by Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991 Section 1. 1996 131 111
1997 130 112
1998 166 129
1999 127 102
2000 161 134
Sale of unpackaged cigarettes Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991 Section 1. 1996 6 6
1997 2 2
1998 3 2
1999 3 3
2000 1
Total 1996 137 117
1997 132 114
1998 169 131
1999 130 105
2000 162 135
1These data are on the principal offence basis.
2Staffordshire Police were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates' courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table.