§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 4 February 2002,Official Report, column 666W, to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley (Ms Munn) how many persons (a) under and (b) over 18 participated in the on-line consultation on the Fairer Sentencing website; how many were students; and what evidence he has of the representative nature of those participants. [34779]
§ Beverley Hughes[holding answer 8 February 2002]: As indicated in the Introduction to the overview of the responses to consultation on the Halliday report that I announced on 4 February, over 1,200 attempts were made at the quiz on the Fairer Sentencing website, and about 100 messages posted on the debate forum. In addition, over 120 e-mails have been received, some of which have come through that website. Those who participated in this way were not asked to give any personal information though a very small number did so. Access to the on-line debating facility was available to all with access to the Internet through this website. Its availability was publicised widely and was designed to enable a wider section of the public to contribute to the debate. The consultation was not intended to be a scientifically based opinion survey but a means of extending the consultation more widely than the usual route of contact with criminal justice system professionals and known interest groups. The total number of written correspondence received in response to the public consultation exercise on the Halliday report was 185, which includes correspondence from those connected with the Criminal Justice System and members of the public.