Alcoholic Drinks: Young People
Justice
Written answers and statements, 17 October 2007
Don Foster (Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, Culture, Media & Sport; Bath, Liberal Democrat)
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there were of retailers for selling alcohol to persons under 18 years old for consumption off the premises in each of the last 10 years.
Maria Eagle (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ministry of Justice; Liverpool, Garston, Labour)
The information requested on prosecutions and convictions of retailers for selling alcohol to persons under 18 years in each of the last 10 years is provided in the following table. It is not possible to identify from the data whether these sales were on or off licensed premises.
In addition to court proceedings, the offence of sale of alcohol to a person under 18 can attract a penalty notice for disorder (PND). The offence was added to the PND scheme on the
| Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for selling alcohol to under-age customers, England and Wales, 1995 to 2005( 1, 2, 3) | ||
| Proceeded against | Found guilty | |
| 1995 | 198 | 108 |
| 1996 | 251 | 119 |
| 1997 | 215 | 126 |
| 1998 | 311 | 158 |
| 1999 | 205 | 115 |
| 2000 | 132 | 56 |
| 2001 | 158 | 53 |
| 2002 | 170 | 105 |
| 2003 | 616 | 419 |
| 2004 | 841 | 593 |
| 2005 | 1,084 | 772 |
| (1) These data are provided on the principal offence basis. (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 police forces and courts. 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. (3) Covers the offences: selling etc. intoxicating liquor to person under 18 for consumption on the premises under the Licensing Act 1964 S.169 A and B as added by Licensing (Young Persons) Act 2000 S.1, wholesaler selling intoxicating liquor to a person under 18 under the Licensing Act 1964 S.181 A(1) as added by Licensing Act 1988 S.17, sale of alcohol to a person under 18 under the Licensing Act 2003 S.146 and allowing sale of alcohol to a person under 18 under the Licensing Act 2003 S.147. Sections 146 and 147 of the 2003 Licensing Act only came into effect from 24 November 2005, so data prior to 2005 is not available. The first two offences cannot separately identify on and off premises consumption although both are covered by the statutes. Source: RDS, Court proceedings database, Office for Criminal Justice Reform, Ministry of Justice. | ||