Persistent Offenders (Hansard, 2 March 1999)

§ Mr. Maclean
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of those persistent offender cases surveyed in the Phoenix-based research used to calculate the benchmark figure of 142 days for arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders and in subsequent research were completed(a) within 71 days, (b) within 142 days but more than 71 days and (c) in over 142 days. [74215]

§ Mr. Boateng
I shall write to the right hon. Member.

§ Mr. Maclean
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 15 February 1999,Official Report, column 518, if he will estimate the effect of adopting an upper limit for the Phoenix-based survey on time between arrest and sentence for persistent young offenders to take into account the effect of the minority of cases which may be protracted for reasons outside the control of case management. [74219]

§ Mr. Boateng
On the basis of information currently held, it is not possible to calculate the number of cases where progress is protracted for reasons outside the control of case management. It is not possible to estimate the effect of adopting an upper limit for the Phoenix-based survey which would only exclude such cases. Any upper limit imposed would be likely to exclude cases affected by unnecessary delay, and would not be consistent with the Government's intention to reduce delay in all cases involving persistent young offenders.
637W

§ Mr. Maclean
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide a breakdown of the figures used to calculate the benchmark figure of 142 days for the pledge to halve the time between arrest and sentence for persistent young offenders. [74212]

§ Mr. Boateng
The calculation for the figure of 142 days from arrest to sentence was based on a representative sample of almost 1,500 occasions on which slightly over 900 persistent young offenders were sentenced for almost 4,500 offences during 1996, across England and Wales.
The dates on which the sampled persistent young offenders were sentenced were obtained from the Police National Computer, Phoenix. As Phoenix does not generally hold arrest dates, this information was obtained directly from police forces. The date of arrest for each sentencing occasion was defined as the earliest date of arrest (or date of laying of information) and was collected in respect of each offence for which a sentence was passed. Once this information had been added, the time from arrest to sentence was calculated on the basis of the difference (in calendar days) between the date of sentence and the date of arrest (or laying of information). The national baseline is the mean arrest to sentence time for the sampled sentencing occasions.