§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average length of custodial sentence of female prisoners in England and Wales in the first six months of the current year.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggInformation on the distribution of the length of sentence for females received under sentence or serving sentences is published annually in "Prison statistics, England and Wales"—tables 3.3, 3.10, 5(a), 5.9 and 7.1 of the latest issue for 1986, Cm. 210—copies of which are in the Library. The average length of sentence for females received into prison service establishments in England and Wales in the first six months of 1988 to serve a determinate sentence, excluding those in default of payment of a fine, was about 8.1 months for young offenders and 12.5 months for adults.
I regret that corresponding information for the complete year of 1984, given in an earlier reply on 3 February 1986, at column 5, was incorrect. The correct figures are 6.5 months for young offenders and 8.5 months for adults.