The Ministry of Justice's work spans criminal, civil and family justice, democracy, rights and the constitution. Every year around nine million people use, our services in 900 locations across the United Kingdom, including 650 courts and tribunals and 139 prisons in England and Wales.
The range of the Department's policies and actions is wide and the statistical information relating to it is not normally collected on a constituency basis. Consequently, some of the information requested in the question cannot be provided in the form requested except at a disproportionate cost.
Although data on sentencing for the period are not available for the constituency of Croydon, Central, they are available for London. These show the total number of offenders sentenced annually was 216,107 in 2005 and 242,429 in 2008, the latest period for which such information is available.
The number of offences brought to justice for London increased from 182,350 for the 12 months ending 31 March 2006 to 230,202 (provisional figures) for the 12 months ending 31 March 2009.
With regard to prosecutions, data are not available for the constituency of Croydon, Central. However, the total number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts by the Metropolitan Police was 261,617 in 2005, compared to 279,581 in 2008.
The latest data, which cover reoffending in the period 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009, showed that the three month reoffending rate for offenders on the probation caseload in Croydon was 9.49 per cent. After controlling for changes in the characteristics of offenders on the probation caseload, there was an increase in reoffending of 3.12 per cent. compared to the 2007-08 baseline. Data are not available prior to 2007 on this basis.
The number of persons commencing court order supervision by the Probation Service in London was 18,931 in 2005 and 23,787 in 2008.
154,616 civil non-family proceedings were started in the county courts of London Civil and Family HMCS area in 2009, compared to 175,889 in 2005. There were also 15,437 private law applications and 886 public law applications made in the county or High Courts of this HMCS area in 2008-09, compared to 14,540 and 1,207 respectively in 2005-06.
In addition, at a national level:
Local communities are being better engaged in criminal justice—by giving them a say in the types of Community Payback projects offenders carry out and allowing them to see justice being done, for example through the use of high visibility jackets. Offenders have now worked more than 14 million hours, with an estimated value to the taxpayer of over £80 million.
Major constitutional reforms have been delivered, including devolution, the Human Rights Act, Freedom of Information, Lords Reform, and a new Supreme Court for the UK.