§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) men and (b) women were serving a life prison sentence in prisons in the United Kingdom as at 1 May.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 12 May 1993:
The Home Secretary has asked me to write to you directly in reply to your Parliamentary Question about the population of life sentence prisoners in Prison Service establishments. The latest available information is for 31 March 1993 and shows
Arrests for all types of offences Police force area 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 Avon and Somerset 35,891 38,350 37,930 39,796 40,687 34,190 36,290 37,592 39,852 42,421 39,216 Bedfordshire 15,831 16,679 16,068 16,699 17,147 14,232 15,694 15,864 14,886 17,705 17,543 Cambridgeshire 17,757 16,544 16,303 15,702 16,187 15,552 17,239 16,388 16,466 18,389 17,699 Cheshire 18,511 19,526 19,730 19,824 21,265 21,207 23,310 24,068 25,103 27,823 29,684 Cleveland 24,565 24,181 27,560 25,982 27,049 24,226 24,670 24,351 25,527 26,584 28,061 Cumbria 12,434 13,612 13,379 14,430 15,959 14,446 14,591 16,346 18,244 19,479 21,275 Derbyshire 17,850 19,253 20,167 22,120 21,687 19,044 20,126 20,751 22,781 23,079 23,708 Devon and Cornwall 21,499 23,336 25,819 26,679 28,999 25,342 27,704 28,717 30,786 31,404 34,024 Dorset 13,068 14,197 14,356 13,332 13,554 12,880 13,478 13,981 16,048 17,487 18,382 Durham 16,616 18,427 18,274 19,712 18,943 18,286 21,762 23,303 25,415 25,965 25,125 Essex 31,138 33,792 34,805 47,965 38,184 32,398 35,140 35,607 37,913 39,990 40,100 Gloucestershire 11,758 12,559 12,438 12,078 12,814 11,557 12,428 12,787 14,409 17,043 17,020 Greater Manchester 102,118 110,537 107,746 110,213 116,647 101,804 109,963 110,307 115,248 116,678 116,916 Hampshire 42,551 45,063 44,325 44,022 50,194 49,796 52,052 54,419 61,063 63,171 62,330 Hertfordshire 19,092 19,463 20,129 18,963 18,487 16,405 20,538 20,114 22,868 22,648 23,191 Humberside 30,662 34,081 35,095 33,480 35,997 34,807 35,106 32,981 35,568 36,066 35,847 Kent 37,003 39,173 38,491 38,236 41,520 41,428 46,808 47,806 47,253 47,007 47,992 Lancashire 39,844 39,983 45,261 49,848 48,666 46,197 47,881 51,053 53,129 57,235 62,104 Leicestershire 21,202 21,293 20,660 19,952 22,159 20,262 20,945 22,181 24,604 24,949 26,417 Lincolnshire 13,203 13,938 14,747 11,987 13,010 13,797 17,282 16,550 18,089 21,474 22,680 London, City of 3,390 3,577 3,582 3,596 3,511 3,558 3,702 4,248 4,489 4,809 4,688 Merseyside 57,139 57,165 60,452 60,554 59,216 51,467 54,088 56,914 62,559 69,207 72,930 Metropolitan Police1 340,809 362,137 364,703 349,941 1109,786 103,084 109,587 108,706 111,420 116,865 113,586 Norfolk 10,155 13,951 16,010 16,292 16,448 14,812 17,232 17,765 19,131 22,727 20,898 Northamptonshire 15,151 15,505 15,407 15,868 14,572 13,382 14,193 16,088 16,993 18,242 19,353 Northumbria 62,121 61,180 56,764 53,704 57,203 54,999 60,206 59,302 62,415 65,694 68,847 North Yorkshire 11,829 12,370 12,532 13,780 14,308 14,216 16,656 17,541 17,531 20,221 20,936 Nottinghamshire 32,625 33,532 34,106 29,835 35,485 35,970 37,423 38,481 42,679 45,468 46,487 South Yorkshire 44,550 46,653 46,097 48,903 49,681 32,791 35,859 37,731 39,914 43,979 45,722 Staffordshire 31,833 33,719 34,782 38,118 36,405 31,831 34,585 32,351 36,481 36,861 39,142 Suffolk 12,452 12,509 12,434 13,134 13,778 10,450 12,010 12,574 13,053 13,905 15,796 Surrey 17,536 18,255 19,357 18,622 17,101 16,569 18,582 18,495 19,468 20,920 19,940 Sussex 35,294 36,492 35,817 34,174 33,348 29,872 32,448 31,329 35,574 37,358 39,247 Thames Valley 42,076 46,950 49,254 48,136 51,817 47,686 48,199 50,225 57,246 59,098 59,458 Warwickshire — 8,846 8,671 8,667 9,379 10,112 10,625 10,998 12,812 13,161 14,138 West Mercia 22,692 24,104 24,522 25,525 26,123 25,004 25,027 26,114 28,590 32,285 32,048 West Midlands 87,376 91,158 91,933 90,816 97,329 86,602 93,562 104,116 119,069 123,868 131,062 West Yorkshire 56,702 59,504 58,277 55,609 60,577 67,103 70,640 70,093 78,215 84,172 85,867 Wiltshire 8,857 9,029 9,388 10,749 10,876 8,586 9,846 11,187 13,195 14,507 13,670 Dyfed-Powys 8,605 9,422 9,589 11,368 10,932 8,191 8,803 10,224 11,774 12,699 13,466 Gwent 15,955 16,407 15,871 14,949 16,101 14,811 16,338 16,694 16,855 17,060 17,796 North Wales 11,003 12,248 13,977 15,801 17,461 16,502 18,092 18,951 20,626 22,629 24,338 South Wales 35,795 42,915 45,453 50,964 52,874 44,814 46,901 50,099 52,645 56,061 57,143 1 From 1985 MPD decided only to record arrest figures in terms of notifiable offences.