HC Deb 07 November 1988 vol 140 c14W
1987. Mr. Bermingham

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons were sentenced to a period of imprisonment in England and Wales during(a) 1986 and (b)

Mr. John Patten

The information requested can be found in Table 7.1 of "Criminal statistics, England and Wales, 1987" (Cm. 498), copies of which are in the Library.

Mr. Bermingham

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of persons sentenced to a period of imprisonment in England and Wales in 1986–87 served less than six months.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

Following the increase in August 1987 to one half in remission for persons serving sentences of 12 months or less, all persons received with sentences of under 12 months who qualified for full remission would serve under 6 months in custody. In 1986, the latest readily available data, about 60 per cent. of the 67,000 persons received under an immediate custodial sentence had a sentence of under twelve months, and virtually all the 19,000 received in default of payment of a fine. Information about the time served in custody under sentence is published annually in "Prison Statistics England and Wales" (tables 4.11, 5.11 of the latest issue, for 1986 Cm. 210).