§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the oral statement of 5 February 1998,Official Report, columns 225–27, if he will estimate the weekly numbers of people convicted for the first time of a criminal offence that could be followed by a custodial sentence of six months or more. [28811]
§ Mr. MichaelInformation available centrally on previous convictions relates to standard list offences only. It is estimated that, on average, 2,400 people were convicted in each week of 1995 for a first such offence (this is the latest year for which figures are available). Standad list offences included all indictable and some of the more serious summary offences. As 98 per cent. of those sentenced for standard list offences in 1995 were sentenced for offences that carry a maximum sentence of six months or more, exclusion of offences with a lower maximum penalty would not materially affect this estimate.
Some offences not on the standard list also carry a maximum sentence of six months' imprisonment. These accounted for 134,000 of all those sentenced in 1995, but their contribution to the estimate requested is not known.