asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many prosecutions were brought in respect of the offence of being a suspected person loitering with intent in each of the past three years; and what was the breakdown between police force areas;(2) what proportion of prosecutions brought for the offence of being a suspected person and loitering with intent to commit an arrestable offence has resulted in conviction in any periods for which figures are available.
The total numbers of persons proceeded against and found guilty in England and Wales of offences of being a suspected person frequenting a public place with intent to commit an arrestable offence are published annually in the "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales"—offence classification 186 in table 1(a) of the volume for 1978, Cmnd. 7670. The additional information requested is given in the following table.
| PERSONS PROCEEDED AGAINST FOR OFFENCES OF BEING A SUSPECTED PERSON FREQUENTING A PUBLIC PLACE WITH INTENT TO COMMIT AN ARRESTABLE OFFENCE BY POLICE FORCE AREA | ||||
| England and Wales | ||||
| Numbers and percentages | ||||
| Police force area | … | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 |
| Avon and Somerset | … | 17 | 20 | 13 |
| Bedfordshire | … | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| Cambridgeshire | … | 3 | 8 | 10 |
| Cheshire | … | 29 | 29 | 42 |
| Cleveland | … | 14 | 14 | 25 |
| Cumbria | … | 5 | 4 | 22 |
| Derbyshire | … | 5 | 10 | 9 |
| Devon and Cornwall | … | 22 | 21 | 15 |
| Dorset | … | — | 5 | 8 |
| Durham | … | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Essex | … | 9 | 12 | 14 |
| Gloucestershire | … | 3 | 8 | 8 |
| Greater Manchester | … | 250 | 240 | 263 |
| Hampshire | … | 65 | 45 | 50 |
| Hertfordshire | … | 4 | 8 | 5 |
| Humberside | … | 32 | 27 | 28 |
| Kent | … | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| Lancashire | … | 54 | 26 | 57 |
| Leicestershire | … | 4 | 9 | 6 |
| Lincolnshire | … | — | 4 | 3 |
| London, City of | … | 49 | 69 | 89 |
| Merseyside | … | 415 | 489 | 553 |
| Metropolitan Police District | 1,914 | 1,890 | 1,970 | |
| Norfolk | … | 4 | 7 | 11 |
| Northamptonshire | … | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Northumbria | … | 42 | 45 | 44 |
| North Yorkshire | … | 12 | 8 | 14 |
| Nottinghamshire | … | 14 | 13 | 27 |
| South Yorkshire | … | 18 | 16 | 26 |
| Staffordshire | … | 18 | 19 | 18 |
| Suffolk | … | 4 | 8 | 2 |
| Surrey | … | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Sussex | … | 15 | 4 | 15 |
| Thames Valley | … | 43 | 21 | 28 |
| Warwickshire | … | 1 | — | 6 |
| West Mercia | … | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| West Midlands | … | 167 | 139 | 167 |
| West Yorkshire | … | 82 | 69 | 85 |
| Wiltshire | … | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| England | … | 3,340 | 3,312 | 3,667 |
| Dyfed-Powys | … | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| Gwent | … | 1 | — | 3 |
| North Wales | … | 9 | 5 | 4 |
| South Wales | … | 148 | 125 | 112 |
| Wales | … | 161 | 135 | 124 |
| England and Wales— | ||||
| Total | … | 3,501 | 3,447 | 3,791 |
| Percentage found guilty | 78 | 75 | 73 | |