Young Offenders

Mr. Michael
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total number of places available for 12 to 14-year-olds awaiting trial or sentence in each of the last three years. [36260]

Mr. Maclean
This information is not collected centrally by my Department.

Mr. Michael
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number and proportion of cautioned juvenile offenders who had been cautioned on (a) a previous occasion, (b) two previous occasions and (c) more than two previous occasions for (i) 1993 and (ii) 1994. [36254]

Mr. Maclean
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to a question from my hon. Friend. the Member for Batley and Spen (Mrs. Peacock) on 13 June, Official Report, column 480.

Mr. Michael
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of persistent juvenile offenders identified by his Department in 1993 and 1994, respectively. [36253]

Mr. Maclean
There is no agreed definition of persistent offender. A special study of court appearances resulting in convictions in three weeks of 1993 gave the following estimates for 10 to 17-year-olds: --------------------------------------
|Number of previous court appearances|
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|2                                   |
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|3                                   |
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|4                                   |
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|5–9                                 |
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|10 or more                          |
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Mr. Michael
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average length of time elapsed from offence to charge or summons for juveniles in 1993 and 1994; and what was the number and percentage of cases dealt with at first appearance at juvenile court and subsequently at youth court for 1993 and 1994. [36251]

Mr. John M. Taylor
I have been asked to reply. The average length of time elapsed from offence to charge or summons for juveniles in a sample week in June 1994 was 37 days, the corresponding figure for June 1993 was 36 days. This information comes from the magistrates' courts time intervals survey. In June 1994 it collected information on 1,478 juveniles; the cases of 292—or 19.8 per cent. of these were dealt with at first appearance. The corresponding number of juveniles about which information was collected in the June 1993 sample week was 1331, of which 312—or 23.4 per cent.—were dealt with at first appearance.