HC Deb 30 January 2003 vol 398 cc1043-4W
Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of prisoners released in(a) 1997, (b) 1998 and (c) 1999 were reconvicted within two years; and what his assessment is of reconviction rates for prisoners released in (i) 2000, (ii) 2001 and (ii) 2002.[92160]

Hilary Benn

[holding answer 21 January 2003]The two-year 'un-adjusted' reconviction rate for prisoners discharged from custody in 1997 was 58 per cent. The provisional figure for 1998 was also 58 per cent. These rates are published in "Prison Statistics—England and Wales 2000".

Reconviction rates for offenders discharged from custody in the first quarter of 1999 have also been calculated according to the requirements of the Governments Public Service Agreement (PSA) 10 target. These are adjusted to take out convictions for offences committed prior to discharge, giving a reconviction rate of 55.3 per cent. The equivalent figures for the first quarter of 1997 and 1998 are 56.8 per cent. and 55.7 per cent. respectively.

Reconviction rates for more recent periods are not yet available.

Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of offenders completing community sentences in(a) 1997, (b) 1998 and (c) 1999 were reconvicted within two years; and what his assessment is of reconviction rates for offenders completing programmes in (i) 2000, (ii) 2001 and (iii) 2002. [92161]

Hilary Benn

[holding answer 21 January 2003]: Reconviction rates for offenders commencing community penalties in the first quarter of 1997 have been calculated according to the requirements of the Government's Public Service Agreement (PSA) 10 target. These are adjusted to take out convictions for offences committed prior to commencement of the penalty and convictions for breach of the penalty where no further offence had been committed.

This gives a reconviction rate for the first quarter of 1997 of 45.7 per cent. The equivalent figure for the first quarters of 1998 and 1999 are 46.0 per cent. and 44.3 per cent. respectively.

Two-year reconviction rates are not available for offenders completing programmes in 2000, 2001 or 2002.