asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the increase in the number of convictions for vandalism since the raising of the school leaving age in each area of England and Wales for which separate statistics are available.

There is no specific criminal offence of vandalism. The following table gives, for the years 1970–74, the numbers of those found guilty and cautioned respectively in England and Wales for offences of criminal or malicious damage. I regret that this information is not available separately for individual areas. The effect of the raising of the school-leaving age was that pupils who could have left school at the minimum age at the end of the Easter or summer terms in 1973 remained at school until the end of the corresponding terms in 1974.