To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals of each (a) sex and (b) age group in Wales were placed on (i) List 99 and (ii) the sex offenders register in each year since 1997. (218771)

(i) The details held by the Department of Children, Schools and Families of individuals on List 99 were recorded at the time these people were placed on the list. Identifying the age, sex and number of individuals who had home addresses in Wales at the time of listing would require individual case records to be checked and this would incur disproportionate cost.

Once an individual is on List 99, a standard or enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) disclosure will reveal the barred status of that individual to an employer together with details of any criminal convictions. Information on an individual's address at the time of listing is not necessary in order to check whether that person is barred.

(ii) Information on the number of registered sexual offenders (RSOs) has been reported annually by multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) responsible authorities since 2002 and is as follows:

Data on RSOs was not collected centrally before 2002 and is not broken down routinely by gender and age group. Work is currently under way to amend ViSOR (the national database of sexual and violent offenders and other dangerous persons) to support more detailed standardised reporting in relation to RSOs, including their age and gender. The intention is to have this facility available by early 2009.