To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what evidence he has of an increase in the number of juveniles aged 15 to 17 years who have been committed to custody, other than under section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, over the last year; and whether any regional trends are apparent.
Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 19 May 1993:
The Home Secretary has asked me to write to you directly in reply to your Parliamentary Question about the number of juveniles aged 15 to 17 years of age who had been committed to custody.
Table A
| ||||||
Number and percentage of persons found guilty or cautioned for the indictable offence of theft of a motor vehicle' by police force area and age group 1991
| ||||||
10–16
| 17–20
| All ages
| ||||
Police force area
| Number
| Per cent.
| Number
| Per cent.
| Number
| Per cent.
|
| Avon and Somerset | 20 | 18 | 51 | 45 | 114 | 100 |
| Bedfordshire | 94 | 67 | 23 | 16 | 141 | 100 |
| Cambridgeshire | 36 | 23 | 66 | 42 | 156 | 100 |
| Cheshire | 8 | 10 | 32 | 41 | 79 | 100 |
I attach a table showing the sentenced prison population aged 15–17 on 31 March 1993, together with corresponding figures for 31 March 1992. These indicate a slight decline in numbers. Separate figures are shown for the three Prison Service directorates. The Directorate of Inmate Administration (DIA) covers Wales and South West and Central England, the Directorate of Custody (DOC) covers London, South East England and East Anglia and the Directorate of Inmate Programmes (DIP) covers the East Midlands and Northern England. The establishment to which a prisoner is allocated depends on the availability of accommodation and so prisoners with homes in one directorate may be allocated to establishments in another directorate.
Population aged 15 to 17 under sentence1 in prison service establishments in England and Wales: 31 March 1992 and 31 March 1993
| ||
Directorate
| 31 March 1992
| 31 March 1993
|
| DIP | 218 | 254 |
| DOC | 116 | 146 |
| DIA | 368 | 292 |
| Total | 702 | 692 |
1 Excludes those committed under Section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. | ||