Information on the number of people convicted of sexual offences against children for the years 1995 to 2005 can be viewed in the following table.
Information for 1980 to 1994 is being gathered and I will write to the hon. Gentleman and place a copy in the Libraries of the House once available.
Court proceedings data for 2006 will be available in the autumn of 2007.
Found guilty 1995 2,300 1996 2,599 1997 2,660 1998 2,557 1999 2,507 2000 2,286 2001 2,163 2002 2,284 2003 2,154 2004 2,399 2005 2,198 1 These data are on the principal offence basis. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 3 128 offences have been used In this table and include sections of the following statutes: Sexual Offences Act 2003, Sexual Offences Act 1956, Sexual Offences Act 1956 as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Sexual Offences Act 1956 as amended by Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000, Sexual Offences Act 1956 as amended by the Sexual Offences Act 1967. 4 Some offences have been omitted as the vast majority of data will be against adults, and a minority will be against children. Source: Court proceedings database—Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Ministry of Justice.