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<p> </p><p> </p><p>I have set out below the number of criminal offences in England
and Wales created by government departments. The numbers are collated by the Criminal
Offences Gateway which scrutinises proposals on new and amended criminal offences
for England and Wales.</p><p> </p><p>The numbers are based on offences put through
the Criminal Offences Gateway during the period 1 June 2010 to 31 May 2013 (the latest
available data).</p><p> </p><p>Further information can be found in the New Criminal
Offences England and Wales <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/revised-new-criminal-offences-statistics-in-england-and-wales-june-2009-may-2013"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/revised-new-criminal-offences-statistics-in-england-and-wales-june-2009-may-2013</a></p><p>
</p><p>The numbers of new criminal offences, which include entirely new offences and
existing offences which have been extended or amended in some way, are published annually
by my department in the statistical bulletin <em>New Criminal Offence</em>s. The new
criminal offences enforce Government policy in a range of areas, including to contain
the spread of serious animal diseases and to criminalise squatting in a residential
building.</p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Period covered</p></td><td><p>Number
of legislative provisions (secondary & primary) containing new offences</p></td><td><p>Total
criminal offences created</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1 June 2010 to 31 May 2011</p></td><td><p>33</p></td><td><p>174</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1
June 2011 to 31 May 2012</p></td><td><p>52</p></td><td><p>292</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1
June 2012 to 31 May 2013</p></td><td><p>60</p></td><td><p>327</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>
</p><p>712 criminal offences were created during the period 1 June 2009 to May 2010
which was the 12 months immediately prior to the establishment of the Criminal Offences
Gateway.</p><p> </p><p>New offences are needed for a number of reasons, for example,
to update legislation that is now out of date, to underpin delivery of government
priorities and to set out clearly what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. The
Government committed to putting in place a mechanism, an additional layer of scrutiny,
for proposals to create new offences. This is the first time a Government has done
so and committed to doing so publicly. The Government has repealed 140 offences in
the 12 months ending May 2013.</p><p> </p><p>The information on the predicted effect
on the number of prisoners for each relevant offence is not available and could only
be obtained at disproportionate cost.</p>
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