asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department for how many years clear-up rates for crime have been centrally collected; and if he will give the figures for the national clear-up rate for each year for which figures are available up to 1986.

Clear-up rates have been published in the Command Paper "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, 1950" and in the corresponding volumes for subsequent years up to 1985. The 1950 volume included figures for 1938, 1948, and 1949, and the 1986 figure is published in a Home Office statistical bulletin issue number 4/87 (table 5).