HC Deb 06 February 1981 vol 998 c233W
Mr. Kilroy-Silk

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of those sentenced to imprisonment in 1979 had committed offences involving violence, sex, robbery, arson and drug trafficking.

Mr. Mayhew

The information requested is given in the following table.

Persons sentenced to imprisonment for certain offences as a percentage of all persons so sentenced
England and Wales 1979 Percentage
Principal offence Imprisonment
Immediate Suspended
Violence against the person 11 12
Sexual offences 3 2
Robbery 4 1
Arson 1 *
Drug Trafficking† 1 1
Total number sentenced to imprisonment for indictable or summary offences‡ (=100 per cent) 43,206 34,227
*Less than ½ per cent.
†Comprises drugs offences of unlawful production, unlawful supply, possession with intent to supply unlawfully and unlawful import and export, being the occupier or concerned in the management of premises and permitting or suffering certain activities to take place there.
‡ Excluding an element of double-counting included in figures from earlier years.

Mr. Kilroy-Silk

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of those remanded or committed in custody in 1979 were accused of offences involving violence, sex, robbery, arson and drug trafficking.

Mr. Mayhew

The readily-available information is published in tables 8.3, 8.5 and 8.7 of Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, 1979 (Cmnd. 8098). In those tables arson is included in "criminal damage" and drug trafficking in "drug offences"; to provide separate information for those offence groups would involve disproportionate cost.