HC Deb 05 March 1990 vol 168 cc465-6W
Mr. Corbett

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women are in custody for conviction of(a) non-violent crime and (b) violent crime; and what was the comparable figure in each of the past five years.

Mr. Mellor

The readily available information relates to sentenced prisoners and is published annually in "Prison Statistics England and Wales", table 1.8 of the latest volume for 1988, Cm. 825, a copy of which is in the Library. Provisional information for 1989 is given in the table.

Population1 in prison service establishments of females under sentence on 30 June 1989: by offence group
Offence group Number2
Violence against the person 220
Sexual offences3 20
Robbery 80
Other offences4 860
Offence group Number2
Not recorded 80
Fine defaulters 20
All offences 1,280
1 Provisional figures.
2 Rounded estimates.
3 Including rape.
4 Burglary, theft, handling, fraud, forgery, drugs and other offences.

Mr. Corbett

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women, by nationality, are in custody awaiting deportation; and what was the comparable information in each of the past five years.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

On 31 January 1990 nine women were detained under the Immigration Act 1971 pending removal under the deportation powers. On these, four were Nigerian, one Ghanaian, one Jamaican, one Moroccan, one Colombian and one French. Details for the corresponding date in the previous five years are:

  • 1989–6 (one Filipino, four Nigerians and one Indian)
  • 1988–5 (two Ghanaians, one Ugandan, one Nigerian, one citizen of Sierra Leone)
  • 1987–3 (one Jamaican, one Ghanaian, one nationality doubtful)
  • 1986–1 (Ghanaian)
  • 1985–0.

These figures do not include women serving custodial sentences who are also the subject of deportation proceedings.