§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his estimate is of the percentage change in the(a) prison population and (b) the number of notifiable offences in (i) 1979 to 1994, (ii) 1994 to 1999 and (iii) 1999 to 2002; and if he will make a statement. [60138]
§ Hilary BennThe percentage changes over the requested time periods for England and Wales are given in the table.
Percentage Change in average prison population Change in number of notifiable offences1 1979 to 1994 +15.4 +107.1 1994 to 1999–2000 +32.8 +0.9 1999–00 to 2000–01 -0.5 -2.5 2000–01 to 2001–02 +4.6 2— 1 Data showing the number of notifiable offences has been collected for financial years since 1999, and is shown as such. Prison population data has been given to match. 2Not available. The percentage change in the average prison population from 1999 to 30 April 2002 (latest available data) was 9 per cent. The equivalent data are not available for the number of notifiable offences.