§ Mr. DjanoglyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) arrests and (b) convictions there have been for breaching a designated public place order in each year since 2001. [175256]
§ Ms BlearsInformation on arrests collected centrally is based on persons arrested for "notifiable" offences only and therefore does not cover this offence, as it is not notifiable.
528WThe offence of alcohol consumption in a designated public place (Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001) came into force on 1 September 2001 and was recorded in the Home Office Court Proceedings database from 1 January 2002. The information collected shows that no persons were convicted of this offence in 2002.
Statistics for 2003 will be published in the autumn.
Fixed penalty notices for disorder have now been introduced in England and Wales covering 11 penalty offences. They have been introduced to provide the police with a quick and effective tool for dealing with minor disorder offences which saves both police and court time as well as providing the offender with an immediate punishment. The offence of drinking in a designated public place is included in the scheme. Home Office Research Findings No. 232 published in March this year gave details of the early results from the pilots of the scheme. This shows that for the period August 2002 to 28 March 2003 a total of four penalty notices were issued for the offence of drinking in a designated public place.