§ Mr. DixonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) on how many occasions since 1985 he has imposed a minimum sentence for persons sentenced to life imprisonment of the same length as the recommendation of the trial judge or the Lord Chief Justice;
(2) on how many occasions since 1985 he has increased the minimum period of sentence for a person sentenced to life imprisonment beyond the recommended minimum length of sentence by the trial judge or the Lord Chief Justice; and on how many such occasions the trial judge and the Lord Chief Justice have subsequently concurred in the increase;
831W(3) on how many occasions since 1985 he has imposed a minimum life sentence on a person sentenced to life imprisonment of less than the period recommended by the trial judge or the Lord Chief Justice.
§ Mr. Peter LloydInformation in the form requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The readily available information is for the period August 1990 to July 1993 inclusive. During this period a total of 806 mandatory life sentence cases were considered. Of these, Ministers set a period the same length as that recommended by the trial judge in 409 cases—in 325 of these the Lord Chief Justice agreed with the period recommended by the trial judge. In a further 244 cases Ministers set a period in accordance with the recommendation of the Lord Chief Justice.
A period higher than either of the periods recommended by the judiciary was set in 112 cases. The question of subsequent concurrence by the judiciary did not arise, since the final decision is for the Secretary of State.
A period lower than either of the periods recommended by the judiciary was set in three cases.
In the remaining 38 cases, Ministers set a period between the recommendations of the trial judge and the Lord Chief Justice.