§ Bob SpinkTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many people are on the Sex Offenders Register in each constituency in Essex, broken down by type of offence; [39497]
1226W(2) how many people are on the Sex Offenders Register in Essex, broken down by (a) gender, (b) ethnic group, (c) original nationality at birth and (d) age, broken down by those aged (i) below 40, (ii) 40 to 59 and (iii) 60 years and above. [39495]
§ Beverley HughesThe 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 were 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 the Act's requirements in each police area to be published on an annual basis starting in 2002 and local systems are being put in place to deliver this. Until these systems are in place information on numbers of sex offenders subject to the Act's requirements could be obtained only by a specific exercise by the particular police force concerned. We have no plans to require publication by constituency or to break down published figures further.