HL Deb 08 November 1999 vol 606 cc116-7WA
Lord Windlesham

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will publish a table for the most recent five years for which statistics are available showing:

  1. (a) the total number of offenders sentenced to probation or other community penalties each year, the number of staff responsible for their supervision, and the annual cost; and
  2. (b) the number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody each year, the staff of HM Prison Service, and the comparative annual costs over the same period. [HL4432]

Lord Bassam of Brighton

The number of persons starting supervision by the probation service in the years 1994 to 1998 is as follows:

  • 1994 : 111,955
  • 1995 : 112,340
  • 1996 : 115,402
  • 1997 : 119,775
  • 1998 : 125,347(p)
  • (p) Provisional

The following table, based on table 8.1 in the publication Probation Statistics England and Wales 1997 shows expenditure on the probation service' for the years 1993–94 to 1997–98:

£ millions at outturn prices
1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–982
Current expenditure3 367.8 390.7 388.3 420.1 409.4
Capital expenditure3 25.0 23.1 23.3 22.2 17.1
All expenditure 392.9 413.8 411.6 442.3 426.5
1The probation service is financed mainly through local authorities, to whom the Home Office pays specific grants covering 80 per cent of current and capital expenditure.
2Estimated figures.
3Expenditure eligible for 80 per cent Home Office grant. The current expenditure figures for 1995–96 to 1997–98 include the local authority contribution to expenditure on probation and bail hostels.

Provisional outturn figures for 1998–99 are not yet available.

The number of probation service staff in post(1) for the years 1994 to 1998 (p) is shown below:

  • 1994 : 16,405
  • 1995 : 15,702
  • 1996 : 15,233
  • 1997 : 14,809
    • WA 117
  • 1998 : 14,658(p)
  • (1) Whole-time equivalent
  • (p) Provisional

The total number of offenders given immediate custody(1) at all courts in the years 1994 to 1998 (p) in England and Wales was as follows:

  • 1994 : 69,600
  • 1995 : 79,500
  • 1996 : 85,200
  • 1997 : 93,800
  • 1998 : 100,600(p)

(1) Immediate custody includes detention under Section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, Secure training order (as from January 1998), detention in a young offender institution and unsuspended sentence of imprisonment

(p) Provisional.

The following table shows the expenditure on the Prison Service, the cost per prisoner place and the number of staff in post for the years 1994–95 to 1998–99.

1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 estimated outturn2
Capital expenditure (£ million) 314 329 217 276 209
Current expenditure (£ million) 1,294 1,330 1,390 1,462 1,612
Total expenditure (£ million) 1,608 1,659 1,606 1,738 1,821
Cost per place (£) 23,391 24,178 24,271 23,940 25,096
Staff in post 38,889 39,289 38,623 39,594 41,271

This table is based on Table 2 in the Government's Expenditure Plans 1999–2000 to 2001–2002 for the Home Office and the Charity Commission, Volume 2.