Information on the number of recorded offences of retailers selling tobacco products to those aged under 16 years is not collected centrally. This is a summary offence and is not included in the police recorded crime statistics.
Statistics on the number of police cautions issued, the number of fines imposed and the average fines have been provided by the Ministry of Justice and are given in the table for 1997 to 2005. No information is collected centrally to distinguish between confectionists, tobacconists and other retailers. Data for 2006 are due for publication in late November.
Number of police cautions issued Number of fines imposed Average fine amount (£) 1997 5 90 238 1998 — 115 226 1999 3 90 237 2000 2 113 349 2001 1 74 301 2002 2 67 283 2003 — 82 322 2004 — 50 274 2005 2 56 328 1 These data are on a principal offence basis. 2 Children and Young Persons Act 1933 section 7 as amended by the Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991 section 1. Note: These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. Source: RDS-NOMS, Ministry of Justice.