§ Mr. Peter Bottomleyasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information is available on the use of partly suspended sentences.
§ Mr. WhitelawThe provisions of the Criminal Law Act 1977, Section 47, on partly suspended sentences which were implemented on 29 March 1982 enabled a sentence of immediate imprisonment of between six months and two years when given to an adult to be partly suspended at the discretion of the court. In the three months July to September 1982 of those received into prison department establishments in England and Wales with a sentence of immediate imprisonment within this range, about 9 per cent. had part of their sentence suspended. The part suspended was on average more than half of the sentence imposed. Of course the use of the sentence in these early months could prove untypical. More detailed information will be included in "Prison statistics, England and Wales" for 1982. Information on the use of the sentence by the courts will be included in "Criminal statistics, England and Wales" for 1982. Both publications will be issued in the second half of 1983.