23^rd September 2009

Our ref: FOI 61048

G. Byron

[email address]

Dear Mr Byron,

Re: Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Thank you for your email of 2^nd September in which you requested the following information:

…a link to data on the number of cautions issued by type of offence or by age of offender and any information about parliamentary notes from the implementation of such procedures or any recent suggested reforms.

Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information 2000 (FOIA) as a request for information. I can confirm that the department holds information you are seeking.

The following link http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/criminalannual.htm will take you to our latest available publication “Criminal Statistics: England and Wales 2007”. Please see in particular `Supplementary Tables' Volume 3 - `Court proceedings and cautions by police force area'. Tables S3.5 (A) to (F) provide data on persons cautioned by police force area, sex, offence and age group.

In the main volume please see chapter 3 - “Offenders cautioned or found guilty” and also the appendices (particularly Appendix 2 for 2007) where more information regarding police cautioning can be found.

By following the link you will also find an information box marked “Related information” where you will find a further link to the criminal statistics data publication for 2006. Similarly, the information box marked “Related external links” will take you to earlier publications in this series.

Please note that data for 2008 is planned to be published toward the end of this year. Data for 2009 will be published in 2010. It is therefore exempt from disclosure under s.22 of the FOIA (information intended for future publication). This is a qualified exemption and is subject to a public interest test.

Arguments in favour of disclosure: There is a general public interest in the immediate disclosure of information to ensure departmental transparency and accountability.

Arguments against disclosure: It is a part of the effective conduct of public affairs that the general publication of information is a conveniently planned and managed activity within the reasonable control of public authorities. Where they have taken the decision to publish, public authorities do have a reasonable entitlement to make their own arrangements to do so.

On this occasion, the balance of the public interest test falls in favour of withholding this information.

You also asked where you could find information about parliamentary notes on cautions and reforms. There are two types of cautions: simple cautions and conditional cautions.

Simple cautions are a non-statutory disposal available to the police. Conditional cautions are a statutory disposal introduced by the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The following link http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pahansard.htm will take you to the Hansard section of the UK parliament website.

Hansard is the edited verbatim report of proceedings in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. As this information is already in the public domain, it is exempt from disclosure under s.21 of the FOIA (information reasonably accessible to the request by other means). Section 21 is an absolute exemption and is not subject to a public interest test.

However, outside of the Act and in an effort to assist you with your research, we have provided guidance on the use of simple cautions, and links to the key parliamentary debates relating to conditional cautions and recent changes to their use. These are set out at Annex A to this letter. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list, but you may find it a useful starting point.

As part of our obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, the Ministry of Justice has an independent review process. If you are dissatisfied with this decision, you may write to request an internal review. The internal review will be carried out by someone who did not make the original decision, and they will re-assess how the Department handled the original request.

If you wish to request an internal review, please write or send an email to the Data Access and Compliance Unit within two calendar months of the date of this letter, at the following address:

Data Access and Compliance Unit

Information Directorate

Ministry of Justice

6^th Floor, Post point 6.24

102 Petty France

London

SW1H 9AJ

e-mail: [email address]

During the independent review the department's handling of your information request will be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. Should you remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you will have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. You can contact the Information Commissioner's Office at the following address:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Internet: https://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us.aspx

Yours sincerely,

Dave Perry

Annex A

Conditional cautions

Criminal Justice Act 2003

Conditional cautions (a caution with conditions attached) were introduced by the Criminal Justice Act 2003: You can view the parliamentary debates at the following links:

House of Commons

Second reading: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmhansrd/vo021204/debtext/21204-04.htm#21204-04_head2

House of Commons Committee stage:

House of Lords

Code of Practice on Conditional Cautions

The Code of Practice on Conditional Cautions Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Conditional Cautions: Code of Practice) Order 2004 was debated here:

House of Commons debate:

House of Lords debate:

Police and Justice Act 2006

The

Police and Justice Act 2006 extended the conditional cautioning scheme introduced by the Criminal Justice Act 2003. You can view the parliamentary debates at the following links

House of Commons

House of Commons Committee stage:

House of Lords

Youth conditional cautions and the protection of cautions and other out-of-court disposals

The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 introduced the youth conditional caution and amended the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 to allow for the protection of cautions and other out-of-court disposals. This means that simple cautions, reprimands and final warnings now become spent at the moment of issue, and conditional cautions and youth conditional cautions become spent after three months.

House of Commons

House of Commons Committee stage:

House of Lords

Reprimands and final warnings

Crime and Disorder Act 1998

Reprimands and final warnings for youths were introduced by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. You can view the parlimentary debates at the following links:

House of Lords

House of Commons

House of Commons Committee stage:

All of the above Acts were also discussed at other stages in both Houses of Parliament and committees. You can search for these here: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pahansard.htm

These links enable you to search by Parliamentary Session. You can find the relevant dates of each debate, listed by the name of the Act in alphabetical order, here:

Simple Cautions

Simple cautions are a non statutory disposal. Guidance on their use is contained in Home Office Circular 016/2008 which you can view here: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/publications/home-office-circulars/circulars-2008/016-2008/

Additional publications/guidance on Conditional Cautions

You can view the Director of Public Prosecutions' Guidance on Conditional Cautioning here: http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/directors_guidance/conditional_cautioning.html

The current Conditional Cautioning Code of Practice can be viewed here: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/cond-caution-cop

For the revised draft Conditional Cautioning Code of Practice please see:

You can view further publications on the use of conditional cautions here: http://www.cjsonline.gov.uk/the_cjs/whats_new/news-3634.html

The rehabilitation period is three months for adult and youth conditional cautions unless the offender is subsequently prosecuted and convicted for the offence for which the conditional caution was given. In such cases the rehabilitation period is extended so that it is the same as the rehabilitation period for the offence if a conviction had been received in the first instance.

1

Evidence and Analysis Unit (E&A)

Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR)

Ministry of Justice

Email: [email address]

Evidence and Analysis Unit (E&A)

Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR)

Ministry of Justice

Email: [email address]