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Obscene Telephone Calls
Ms. Richardson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many obscene telephone calls were reported in the last year for which figures are available ; how many gave rise to (a) a charge, (b) a prosecution and (c) a conviction ; what plans he has to review the present maximum penalty for this offence ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John Patten : The figures requested are not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Information collected centrally does not distinguish making an obscene telephone call from other offences under the Telecommunications Act 1984. The maximum penalty for this offence will be increased from a fine of £400 to a fine of £1,000 by fine upratings in the Criminal Justice Bill.
Homosexual Offences
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the cost to the prison service of gaoling the men who are sentenced each year for the consenting homosexual offences of soliciting, buggery, procuring and indecency, including the cost of keeping these men in custody for the full terms of their sentences.
Mrs. Rumbold : In 1989--the latest information available--178 men were received into prison service establishments following conviction for buggery and indecency between males. At 30 June 1989 the population held for such offences was 375.
The population breakdown between prison types and the relevant cost per week (1989-90) was as follows :