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Alcoholic Drinks: Prosecutions

Volume 504: debated on Thursday 28 January 2010

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions for sale of alcohol to a person who is drunk have been brought in each criminal justice area since 2004; and how many resulted in a conviction in each year. (313622)

[holding answer 27 January 2010]: Available information on the number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for the sale of alcohol to a drunk person, under section 141 of the Licensing Act 2003, by police force area, for 2006 and 2007 (latest available) is given in table 1.

The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. For example, when a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.

A penalty notice for disorder (PND) of £80 may also be issued by the police for certain alcohol related offences such as the sale of alcohol to a person who is drunk. The numbers of persons issued with a PND for this offence, which was added to the scheme in April 2005, by police force area, from 2005 to 2007 are shown in table 2.

Data for 2008 will be available very soon.

Table 1: The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for the offence of sale of alcohol to a drunk person1, by police force area, England and Wales, 2006-072,3,4

Proceeded against

Found guilty

Police force area

2006

2007

2006

2007

Cheshire

1

Cleveland

1

Devon and Cornwall

2

Durham

1

1

Lancashire

1

South Yorkshire

2

Thames Valley

1

1

Total

2

7

1

1

1 Under the Licensing Act 2003—section 141.

2 Only those areas for which data have been recorded are included in the table.

3 Figures given are on the principal offence basis.

4 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.

Source:

Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit.

[Ref: 258-09]

Table 2: The number of penalty notices for disorder (PNDs) issued for sale of alcohol to a drunk person1 under section 141 of the Licensing Act 2003, by police force area, England and Wales, 2005-071,2

Police force area

2005

2006

2007

Avon and Somerset

1

Bedfordshire

Cambridgeshire

1

2

Cheshire

City of London

Cleveland

1

4

Cumbria

6

1

Derbyshire

1

1

Devon and Cornwall

1

1

2

Dorset

1

Durham

Essex

1

Gloucestershire

Greater Manchester

3

7

Hampshire

1

1

3

Hertfordshire

Humberside

1

Kent

2

1

4

Lancashire

4

4

6

Leicestershire

8

2

4

Lincolnshire

1

Merseyside

8

Metropolitan Police

3

7

18

Norfolk

1

Northamptonshire

Northumbria

2

North Yorkshire

1

Nottinghamshire

1

1

South Yorkshire

1

Staffordshire

4

2

Suffolk

2

Surrey

1

Sussex

7

1

2

Thames Valley

2

Warwickshire

West Mercia

2

3

West Midlands

1

West Yorkshire

1

1

1

Wiltshire

3

Dyfed Powys

Gwent

North Wales

5

1

South Wales

1

British Transport Police

1

Total

32

47

81

1 Sale of alcohol to a drunk person was added to the PND Scheme with effect from 4 April 2005.

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.

Source:

Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit

[IOS 258-09]