To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many probation orders have been made by the courts in England and Wales in each of the last five years; how many orders were made per 100,000 of the population in the latest available year; and what was the cost of administering probation orders in that year.

The number of persons given probation per 100,000 of the population aged 17 or over was 106 in 1988. Information on the expenditure of the probation service is published annually in chapter 12 of "Probation Statistics England and Wales". The probation service cost of administering probation orders in 1987–88 is estimated at approximately £50 million.