§ Mr. Molloyasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will seek to amend the law so as to make prison sentences mandatory for armed bank robbery.
§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will set in train consideration and con- 552W sultation with interested parties, including the judiciary, of whether the law should be amended in order to make the imposition of prison sentences mandatory for those convicted of armed robbery.
§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been convicted (a) of armed robbery and (b) of armed robbery of a bank in particular during each of the last 10 years; and how many in each case have been awarded a suspended prison sentence.
§ Mr. JohnInformation collected centrally on court proceedings relating to offences of robbery does not distinguish armed robberies or bank robberies. The available information for all types of robbery is as follows:
PERSONS FOUND GUILTY OF OFFENCES OF ROBBERY AND GIVEN A SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF IMPRISONMENT—ENGLAND AND WALES Year Found guilty Given suspended sentence 1966 … 1,702 * 1967 … 1,888 * 1968 … 2,123 140 1969 … 2,526 156 1970 … 2,612 133 1971 … 2,999 120 1972 … 3,415 146 1973 … 3,159 132 1974 … 2,767 129 1975 … 3,458 196 * This sentence was not available in these years.