§ Sir Robert SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the current prison population per capita is in Scotland; what the comparable figures are in(a) England and Wales, (b) France, (c) Germany, (d) the Republic of Ireland and (e) the United States of America; what is the OECD average; and if he will make a statement. [60449]
§ Mr. McLeishThe available information is provided in the table. An average figure for OECD countries is not available: comparisons between different jurisdictions have to be treated with caution because of the differences in definitions and recording methods used.
872W
Prison population and rate per 100,000 population by Country as at 1 September 1997 Country Number Rate per 100,000 population1 Scotland2 6,082 119 England and Wales3,4 61,940 120 France5 54,442 90 Germany6 71,047 87 Ireland (Eire) 2,424 67 USA 1,725,842 645 1Based on estimates of national population 2Average daily population for September 1997 3At 31 August 1997 4Includes prisoners held in police cells 5Metropolitan and overseas departments 6Data relate to 1996 7At 30 June 1997 (2) what were the (a) conviction and (b) clear up rates for each category of crime and in total in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [60480]
§ Mr. McLeishInformation for the latest 3 years for which complete data are available is given in the table.