Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Infant Life Preservation Act 1929, how many people have been convicted in each category of offence of child destruction for performing abortions on other people in each of the last 30 years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on the number of convictions for child destruction. This is available for each year since 2008 up to 2018, in the Outcomes by Offence data tool available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/802314/outcomes-by-offence-tool-2018.xlsx
The number of convictions for child destruction in the years between 1992 (the earliest available in the court proceedings database) and 2007, can be found in the attached table.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions there have been under sections (a) 18, (b) 20, (c) 2a, (d) 47 and (f) 58 of the Offences Against The Person Act 1861.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice has published a National Statistics series on the number of defendants prosecuted and convicted for these offences in England & Wales for 2014 – 2018. This data is available in the principal offence proceedings and outcomes by Home Office offence code data tool available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/804510/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2018.xlsx
To select the number of individuals who were convicted under (a) section 18: filter ‘Offence code’ to ’00501’.
To select the number of individuals who were convicted under (b) section 20: filter ‘Offence code’ to ’00801’.
To select the number of individuals who were convicted under (d) section 47: filter ‘Offence code’ to ’00806’.
To select the number of individuals who were convicted under (f) section 58: filter ‘Offence code’ to ’01401’.
Section 2a of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 has been repealed by the Homicide Act 1957 and as such data on convictions over the period is unavailable.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to tighten bail conditions for people charged with offences involving knife crime.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The decision to remand an individual in custody or to grant bail is solely a matter for the courts acting in accordance with the law. The court may decide to impose conditions to ensure the defendant attends court, does not commit another offence and does not interfere with justice. Conditions that may be imposed include, but are not limited to, curfews, surrender of passports, securities, sureties, and electronic monitoring.
Matters relating to the consideration of bail, including bail conditions that may be imposed by the courts, are set out in the Bail Act 1976. Any changes to this would therefore involve making changes to primary legislation. However, the Government has no plans at present to amend the Bail Act to limit the discretion of the courts.