§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many looked-after children aged 10 or over were, cautioned or convicted for an offence in each year since 1994; and what the figures were for all children. [158068]
§ Paul GogginsFigures on looked after children aged 10 or over who were convicted or subject to a final warning or reprimand have been collected annually since 2000 for those children who have been continuously looked after for at least 12 months. These figures, provided by the Department for Education and Skills, cover England only, and are shown in the following table:
Offending by children who had been looked after continuously for
at least 12 months, years ending 30 September 2000 to 2002—
England
Number1 of children Number of looked after children aged
10 or older at
30 September
of which: Number convicted or
subject to a final warning or
reprimand during the year
Number 2000 25,700 2,800 2001 27,000 2,800 2002 28,200 2,700 Percentage 2000 — 10.8 2001 — 10.4 2002 — 9.7 1Numbers shown are rounded to the nearest 100. National figures for 2003 are due to be published in April.
Similar information for Wales is not available
The following table shows the number of all children found guilty or cautioned (given reprimands or final warnings from June 2000) in England and Wales:
1673WChildren aged 10–17 cautioned and found guilty at all courts for
all offences1, England and Wiles 1994–2002
Children cautioned
Children found
guilty
Total Proportion of total children
in age group
(percentage)
1994 124,654 62,062 186,716 3.8 1995 120,561 67,864 188,425 3.7 1996 113,065 74,675 187,740 3.6 1997 104,520 79,151 183,671 3.5 1998 109,725 86,506 196,231 3.7 1999 103,978 90,280 194,258 3.7 2000 97,541 91,423 188.964 3.5 2001 98,042 95,530 193,572 3.6 2002 86,589 94,546 181,135 3.3 1 These data are on the principal offence basis Statistics for 2003 for England and Wales will be published in the autumn.