HC Deb 12 December 2000 vol 359 c113W
Mr. Lidington

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average number of convicted sex offenders held in custody at any one time during the financial years(a) 1996–97, (b) 1997–98, (c) 1998–99, (d) 1999–2000 and (e) the period since 1 April. [142441]

Mr. Boateng

Information on the number of sex offenders in custody in England and Wales on 30 June for 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999 is given in the table.

Date Number of offenders
30 June 1996 4,043
30 June 1997 4,180
30 June 1998 4,937
30 June 1999 5,098

This information is also published in successive volumes of "Prison Statistics England and Wales" (tables 1.7 and 2.8 of the 1996 edition, CM 3732, and tables 1.5 and 2.8 of the 1997 CM 4017, 1998 CM 4430 and 1999 CM 4805 editions), copies of which are in the Library.

Provisional information for the year 2000 shows that there were 5,251 sex offenders in custody in England and Wales on 30 April 2000, and 5,190 sex offenders in custody in England and Wales on 30 October 2000.