§ Mr. MalinsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate how many of those persons convicted of a serious criminal offence in 1996 were first-time offenders. [2941]
§ Mr. MichaelThere is no universal or simple definition of the term "serious offence, but information routinely available centrally for England and Wales relates to convictions for a "standard list" of fence. These offences are listed in appendices 4 and 5 of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, 1995" (Cm. 3421). They include all indictable and some of the more serious summary offences."
The latest figures available on this basis relate to 1994, when it is estimated that, of the 357,000 persons sentenced for standard list offences, 199,000 had no previous convictions for such offences.
Figures for 1995 should be available later this year.