asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish in the Official Report the number of persons convicted in each of the last 10 years of criminal offences in Scotland while on bail for an earlier offence.

The information below relates only to persons for whom reoffending while on bail was the charge which attracted the most serious penalty. In other cases, the offender will be classified under the actual crime committed while on bail and statistics on such offenders cannot be separately identified. Before 1983, reoffending while on bail was not distinguished from other bail offences.