asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will seek to amend the law so as to make prison sentences mandatory for armed bank robbery.
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will set in train consideration and con- sultation with interested parties, including the judiciary, of whether the law should be amended in order to make the imposition of prison sentences mandatory for those convicted of armed robbery.
No.
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been convicted (a) of armed robbery and (b) of armed robbery of a bank in particular during each of the last 10 years; and how many in each case have been awarded a suspended prison sentence.
Information collected centrally on court proceedings relating to offences of robbery does not distinguish armed robberies or bank robberies. The available information for all types of robbery is as follows:
| PERSONS FOUND GUILTY OF OFFENCES OF ROBBERY AND GIVEN A SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF IMPRISONMENT—ENGLAND AND WALES | |||
| Year | Found guilty | Given suspended sentence | |
| 1966 | … | 1,702 | * |
| 1967 | … | 1,888 | * |
| 1968 | … | 2,123 | 140 |
| 1969 | … | 2,526 | 156 |
| 1970 | … | 2,612 | 133 |
| 1971 | … | 2,999 | 120 |
| 1972 | … | 3,415 | 146 |
| 1973 | … | 3,159 | 132 |
| 1974 | … | 2,767 | 129 |
| 1975 | … | 3,458 | 196 |
| * This sentence was not available in these years. | |||