HC Deb 21 March 1997 vol 292 cc939-40W
Mr. Alex Carlile

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the total expenditure on the Prison Service in each of the last five years; what is projected expenditure for the next three years; and if he will make a statement. [21584]

Miss Widdecombe

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 Richard Tilt to Mr. Alex Carlile, dated 21 March 1997: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent question about total expenditure on the Prison Service in each of the last five years and projects expenditure for the next three years. Expenditure for the years 1991–92 to 1995–96 was as follows:

  • 1991–92 £1,462.1 million
  • 1991–93 £1,470.3 million
  • 1993–94 £1,508.8 million
  • 1994–95 £1,597.9 million
  • 1995–96 £1,666.9 million.

Table A: Number of offenders convicted and conviction rate1 for indictable offences by offence group and region 1991
Region Violence against the person Sexual offences Burglary Robbery Theft and handling stolen goods Fraud and forgery Criminal damage Drug offences Other excluding motoring offences Motoring offences Total indictable offences
North Convictions 3,389 346 3,759 255 9,224 1,109 555 862 1,793 746 22,038
Rate (per cent.) 56.5 61.7 64.7 66.6 69.9 70.7 56.5 80.0 58.0 78.3 65.5
Yorkshire and Humberside Convictions 5,615 576 5,739 459 14,273 2,112 1.047 1,583 3,404 1,108 35,916
Rate (per cent.) 60.3 64.1 71.2 64.5 74.6 79.7 68.9 78.9 63.5 82.4 70.4
East Midlands Convictions 4,804 462 4,174 362 10,057 1,611 648 920 2,179 1,245 26,462
Rate (per cent.) 54.4 59.1 66.3 61.1 70.6 69.7 52.8 76.1 58.1 74.6 64.7
East Anglia Convictions 1,731 186 1,571 119 4,657 775 496 754 913 643 11,845
Rate (per cent.) 63.5 60.4 72.7 55.3 78.1 74.0 78.2 83.3 65.1 89.3 73.7
South East Convictions 12,070 1.848 11,795 1,802 41,378 7,510 3,204 10,619 9,732 2,746 102,704
Rate (per cent.) 53.6 64.0 70.0 61.5 74.1 75.9 63.9 84.9 65.6 76.4 69.9
Greater London2 Convictions 5,780 1.064 5,008 1,190 19,904 3,877 1,495 6,521 5,288 1,045 51,172
Rate (per cent.) 52.0 64.4 71.9 61.8 78.1 80.7 62.6 89.5 68.7 85.5 72.5
Rest of South East Convictions 6,290 784 6,787 612 21,474 3,633 1,709 4,098 4,444 1,701 51,532
Rate (per cent.) 55.2 63.4 68.6 61.0 70.8 71.3 65.1 78.4 62.3 71.8 67.5
South West Convictions 3,629 402 3,431 240 10,110 1,611 641 1,499 2,158 996 24,717
Rate (per cent.) 55.6 55.4 67.4 54.5 71.8 72.4 62.4 81.5 63.9 77.5 67.5
West Midlands Convictions 6,160 687 5,180 665 13,129 2,043 1,756 1,634 4,110 1,378 36,742
Rate (per cent.) 56.5 64.6 69.9 61.6 71.7 77.7 61.8 85.0 58.2 80.9 66.9
North West Convictions 6.225 658 7,377 749 21,749 3,093 861 4,179 7,610 1,644 54,145
Rate (per cent.) 55.9 58.7 72.9 60.5 77.1 80.1 82.2 81.0 68.2 82.9 72.2

For the current and the next three years the projected expenditure is:

  • 1996–97 £1,642.3 million (voted provision)
  • 1997–98 £1,756.8 million
  • 1998–99 £1,707.3 million
  • 1999–00 £1,829.3 million.