To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the differences are in the criteria by which an offence is considered to be (a) cleared up and (b) brought to justice. [109586]

The term cleared up is used when an individual has been charged, cautioned, reprimanded, or received a final warning for a notifiable offence or offences in relation to a crime, or when such an offence has been accepted for consideration in court. A crime may also be counted as cleared up when no further action is taken on an offence for one of the following reasons:

• the offender, victim or an essential witness is dead or too ill;
• the victim refuses or is unable to give evidence;
• the offender is under the age of criminal responsibility;
• the Police or Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decide that no useful purpose would be served by proceeding; or
• the time limit of six months for commencing prosecution, where applicable, has been exceeded.

A notifiable offence is considered to have been brought to justice if the outcome is a conviction, caution, Penalty Notice for Disorder, or it is taken into consideration at court.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many shoplifting offences were committed in Romford in (a) 2002 and (b) each of the last 10 years. [128375]

The available information is contained in the table:

Persons1aged 10–17 and 18–20 convicted in the Petty Sessional Area of Havering2, 1992–2001
	Persons aged 10–17	Persons aged 18–20	All young offenders
1992	178	505	683
1993	171	609	780
1994	156	480	636
1995	N/a	N/a	N/a
1996	201	518	719
1997	252	481	733
1998	292	409	701
1999	269	473	742
2000	222	466	688
2001	286	481	767