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Youth Custody

Volume 507: debated on Thursday 11 March 2010

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of sentences handed down to (a) juveniles and (b) young adults of each sex from (i) magistrates' courts and (ii) Crown courts were custodial sentences in (A) 2008 and (B) 2009. (321595)

The requested information for 2008 is shown in the following table. Data for 2007 have also been supplied. Data for 2009 will become available once Sentencing Statistics 2009 is published in the autumn.

This information is also available in Sentencing Statistics 2008 via the following link:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/sentencingannual.htm

Number and percentage of persons sentenced to immediate custody, by court type, age band and sex, 2007-08

Magistrates court

Crown court

Immediate custody

Total sentenced

Proportion (percentage)

Immediate custody

Total sentenced

Proportion (percentage)

2008

Male

10 to 17

3,421

71,438

4.8

1,609

2,583

62.3

18 to 20

5,436

101,358

5.4

7,186

13,222

54.3

Female

10 to 17

368

13,479

2.7

78

215

36.3

18 to 20

434

20,010

2.2

355

1,120

31.7

2007

Male

10 to 17

3,864

80,153

4.8

1,497

2,466

60.7

18 to 20

6,320

107,921

5.9

7,167

12,849

55.8

Female

10 to 17

340

14,494

2.3

129

274

47.1

18 to 20

472

18,507

2.6

332

999

33.2

Notes: 1. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. 2. These data have been taken from the Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings database. These data are presented on the principal offence basis. Where an offender has been sentenced for more than one offence the principal offence is the one for which the heaviest sentence was imposed. Where the same sentence has been imposed for two or more offences the principal offence is the one for which the statutory maximum is most severe.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department has received a copy of the National Audit Office’s draft report on custody placements in young offenders institutions; if he will bring forward proposals to improve his Department’s system for reporting costs of custody in the youth secure estate; and if he will make a statement. (321629)

The Ministry of Justice is not aware of any such report by the National Audit Office (NAO). The work of the NAO is a matter for the NAO’s Comptroller and Auditor General. The Department welcomes any recommendations the NAO has to secure greater value for money and would carefully consider its response thereafter. Details on the costs of custody are published in the Youth Justice Board’s annual report and accounts.