HC Deb 22 May 1995 vol 260 c491W
Dr. Lynne Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the sentenced female population in England and Wales on the latest date available, broken down by type of offence, length of sentence and previous convictions. [24269]

Mr. Michael Forsyth

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Derek Lewis to Dr. Lynne Jones, dated 22 May 1995: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the sentenced female population in England and Wales on the latest date available, broken down by type of offence, length of sentence and previous convictions. The latest date for which figures are available is 28 February 1995. Figures for female population on this date by type of offence and length of sentence are contained in the attached tables. The latest available published information on the previous convictions of females was given in "Prison Statistics England and Wales 1992" Cm 2581, Table 5.2, an extract of which is attached.

Table 5.2: Population in Prison Service establishments under sentence on 30 June 1992: by offence group and previous convictions1 England and Wales
Number of persons
Offence group All adult females Number of preivous convictions2
nil 1–2 3–5 6–10 11 and over
Violence against the person 158 60 20 20 20 20
Rape 2 — — — — 0
Other sexual offences 7 — — — — 0
Burglary 40 10 10 10 10 10
Robbery 37 — 10 10 10 10
Theft and handling 172 30 40 30 40 40
Fraud and forgery 52 20 10 10 10 10
Drugs offences 245 130 30 30 30 30
Other offences 143 60 20 20 20 20
Offence not recorded 160 50 30 30 30 30
Offences with immediate custodial sentence 1,016 360 160 160 160 170

Source:

Extract from: "Prison Statistics England and Wales 1992", Cm 2581.

1 Estimated using self-reporting of previous I criminal history in the national prison survey 1991 and the distribution of previous convictions in the 1991 prison population. Excludes fine defaulters.

2 Rounded estimates to the nearest 10, which therefore may not add to the totals.