§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average proportion of category A prisoners and category B prisoners within the prison population in each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Doug Hoyle, dated 28 March 1994:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the average proportion of category A prisoners and category B prisoners within the prison population in each of the last ten years.
The information for 30 June of each year is given in the attached table. Information on category A prisoners is available for the period requested but information on category B prisoners is only readily available from 1991 onwards.
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Population of category A and B prisoners in Prison Service establishments on 30 June, 1984–1993 Security category Category A Category B On 30 June Number Percentage of adult sentenced population1 Number Percentage of adult sentenced population1 1984 417 1.6 n/a n/a 1985 429 1.6 n/a n/a 1986 458 1.7 n/a n/a 1987 656 2.2 n/a n/a
Security category Category A Category B On 30 June Number Percentage of adult sentenced population1 Number Percentage of adult sentenced population1 1988 644 2.1 n/a n/a 1989 664 2.2 n/a n/a 1990 564 2.0 n/a n/a 1991 592 2.0 4,822 16.4 1992 597 2.0 4,751 15.8 1993 578 2.1 5,149 18.4 1 Some sentenced prisoners will have had no category assigned to them. A small number of category A and category B prisoners may be young offenders rather than adults.
§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average number of prisoners in each of the last 10 years(a) serving life sentences, (b) serving sentences of over 10 years, (c) serving sentences of over four years and (d) serving sentences for crimes of a violent or sexual nature.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Doug Hoyle, dated 28 March 1994:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about what was the average number of prisoners in each of the last 10 years (a) serving life sentences, (b) serving sentences of over 10 years, (c) serving sentences of over four years and (d) serving sentences for crimes of a violent or sexual nature.
The available information is for 30 June each year and is published annually in successive volumes of "Prison Statistics England and Wales" (Tables 1.8 and 1.9 of the latest volume, for 1991, Cm 2157 give annual data for the period 1981 to 1991). A copy of this publication is available in the House of Commons Library. Provisional information for 1992 and for 1993 where available is given in the attached table.
Sentenced population in Prison Service establishments on 30 June1 Length of sentence 1992 1993 Life 3,000 3,095 Over 10 years less than life 1,399 n/a Over 4 years less than life2 9,965 n/a Offence Violent or sexual offences3 10,233 410,700 1 Provisional figures. 2 Includes those serving a sentence of over 10 years. 3 As recorded. Some 13 per cent, of the sentenced population in 1992 and 6 per cent, in 1993 had no offence recorded centrally. 4 Estimated.