To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if there is a recommended or statutory period during which police forces should retain interview notes and case documents before they are destroyed;(2) if he will make it his policy to issue guidance that no police interview notes or case documents should be destroyed for as long as a person is imprisoned on conviction of the crime involved;
| Table 1 | ||||||
| Spouses and fiance (e) in the Indian sub-continent applying for entry clearance for settlement in the United Kingdom | ||||||
| Number of persons or percentage | ||||||
| Husbands | ||||||
| 1st quarter | 2nd quarter | 1990 3rd quarter | 4th quarter | Year | 1991 1st quarter | |
| New Delhi (including Calcutta) | ||||||
| Applications received1 | 70 | 90 | 80 | 60 | 290 | 70 |
| Applications granted2 | 60 | 50 | 50 | 40 | 200 | 40 |
| Applications refused initially | 40 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 130 | 50 |
| Refusal rate (percentage)3 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | 35 | n.a. |
| Bombay (including Madras) | ||||||
| Applications received1 | 100 | 70 | 50 | 40 | 270 | 100 |
| Applications granted2 | 60 | 40 | 60 | 30 | 190 | 30 |
| Applications refused initially | 50 | 40 | 50 | 50 | 200 | 40 |
| Refusal rate (percentage)3 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | 44 | n.a. |
| Dhaka | ||||||
| Applications received1 | 140 | 150 | 160 | 160 | 610 | 130 |
| Applications granted2 | 40 | 70 | 60 | 50 | 220 | 70 |
| Applications refused initially | 90 | 70 | 100 | 80 | 340 | 60 |
| Refusal rate (percentage)3 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | 58 | n.a. |
(3) if he will list the practice of each police force in England and Wales for the retention of interview notes and case documents in serious cases.
There is no such statutory or recommended period. The policy on retention of interview notes and case documents is a matter for each chief officer of police.Information on the practice of individual forces is not held centrally. At present we have no plans to issue guidance to police forces.