Non-mandatory Life Sentences

Mr. Laurence Robertson
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will break down the number of prisoners serving non-mandatory life sentences by offence committed.

Mr. Sutcliffe
[holding answer 15 January 2006]: Information on the numbers of prisoners serving indeterminate sentences in prison establishments in England and Wales as at 30 June 2005 by offence committed can be found in table 8.25 of Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005, a copy of which can be found in the House of Commons Library.

It can also be accessed at the following website:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosb1806section8.xls

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT 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, and although shown to the last individual the figures may not be accurate to that level.