Skip to main content

Prisoners: Sentencing

Volume 525: debated on Monday 21 March 2011

Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were serving a custodial sentence of (a) five years or fewer, (b) four years or fewer, (c) three years or fewer, (d) two years or fewer and (e) one year or less for each category of offence in the latest period for which figures are available.[32361]

[Official Report, 21 December 2010, Vol. 520, c. 1166W.]

Letter of correction from Mr Crispin Blunt:

An error has been identified in the written answer given to the hon. Member for Luton South (Gavin Shuker) on 21 December 2010. The figures in the table supplied on the breakdown of the custodial prison population for various sentence lengths by offence group for 30 September 2010 are incorrect.

The full answer given was as follows:

The following table provides information on custodial sentences in prison establishments in England and Wales by sentence length band and offence category as at 30 September 2010.

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Custodial prison population as of 30 September 2010 by sentence length and offence category

Sentence length

Offence category

Less than five years

Less than four years

Less than three years

Less than two years

Less than one year

Violence against the person

7,033

5,991

4,846

3,535

1,761

Sexual offences

2,315

1,753

1,232

720

212

Robbery

3,513

2,486

1,500

619

143

Burglary

5,053

4,188

2,954

1,526

507

Theft and handling

3,719

3,517

3,207

2,768

2,047

Fraud and forgery

1,225

1,066

903

698

324

Drug offences

5,866

4,370

2,677

1,085

229

Motoring offences

877

857

823

759

547

Other offences

4,851

4,383

3,849

3,234

2,234

Offences not recorded

190

159

128

107

92

The correct answer should have been:

The following table provides information on custodial sentences in prison establishments in England and Wales by sentence length band and offence category as at 30 September 2010.

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Custodial prison population as of 30 September 2010 by sentence length and offence category

Sentence length

Offence category

Less than five years

Less than four years

Less than three years

Less than two years

Less than one year

Violence against the person

7,097

5,951

4,594

3,154

1,736

Sexual offences

2,882

1,742

1,245

721

208

Robbery

3,394

2,484

1,730

930

142

Burglary

4,596

4,144

2,963

1,719

499

Theft and handling

3,594

3,484

3,016

2,514

2,019

Fraud and forgery

1,166

1,060

826

573

322

Drug offences

5,840

4,306

2,997

1,600

224

Motoring offences

847

835

737

633

532

Other offences

4,819

4,392

3,695

2,953

2,221

Offences not recorded

408

372

315

253

193