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Sentencing

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what average length of custodial sentence was (a) handed out in each of the last nine years and (b) served by offenders released in each of the last nine years; [84400]

(2) what average length of custodial sentence was (a) handed out for and (b) served by those offenders convicted of (i) rape, (ii) murder, (iii) robbery, (iv) manslaughter, (v) sexual assault and (vi) non-fatal criminal assault with knives and bladed instruments who have been released in each of the last nine years; [84401]

(3) what average length of custodial sentence was (a) handed out and (b) served by those convicted of (i) possession with intent to supply Class (A) A, (B) B and (C) C drugs and (ii) simple possession of each category of drugs who were released in each of the last nine years; [84409]

(4) what average length of custodial sentence was (a) handed out and (b) served by those convicted of (i) grievous bodily harm with intent, (ii) grievous bodily harm, (iii) actual bodily harm and (iv) assault who were released in each of the last nine years. [84410]

Mr. Coaker: The tables set out the available information requested on average custodial sentence length imposed in England and Wales for the years 1996 to 2004, the latest year for which figures are currently available.

Figures on non-fatal criminal assault with knives and bladed instruments are not available centrally as details of the nature of the offence are not collected on the Home Office Court Proceedings database.

Average time served for life sentenced prisoners (mandatory and other lifers) released from prison on life licence between 1994 and 2004 is published in table 10.5 of Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2004.

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Information on the average time served and average sentence length of prisoners discharged from determinate sentences in 2004 is published in tables 10.1 and 10.2 of Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2004. Statistics for the years 1997 to 2002 are given in tables 10.1 and 10.2 Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2003, and tables 3.13 and 4.11 of Prison Statistics England and Wales 1997 to 2002. The data, which are obtained from the prison IT system, are not shown separately for specific offences as accuracy at this level of detail cannot be guaranteed.

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Although care is taken in collating and analysing the returns used to compile such figures, the data are of necessity subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system.

We have started a programme of work in the Home Office looking at the quality of existing data on court sentencing and prisoners and how this might be improved.

Average custodial sentence length in months( 1) for possession and possession with intent to supply of Class A, Class B and Class C drugs, 1996-2004
	Possession			Possession with intent to supply
	Class A	Class B	Class C	Class A	Class B	Class C
1996	8.0	5.2	2.8	34.9	13.3	10.1
1997	6.5	4.4	2.6	35.7	13.2	8
1998	5.9	4.2	1.6	34.6	12.8	7.4
1999	5.2	3.1	3.6	35.9	12.9	6.2
2000	5.3	3.2	2.7	34.5	12.7	12.1
2001	5.2	3.5	4.6	34.2	15.2	11
2002	5.2	3.4	2.5	35.4	15.1	10.1
2003	6.2	4.0	1.2	37.6	13.6	17.7
2004	7.3	3.7	2.8	39.8	15.9	11.9

Average custodial sentence length in months for grievous bodily harm with intent, grievous bodily harm, actual bodily harm and assault, 1996-2004
	Grievous bodily harm with intent	Grievous bodily harm without intent	Actual bodily harm	Assault( 2)
1996	45.8	15.6	7.8	2.6
1997	44.1	15.3	7.8	2.6
1998	43.9	15.1	7.5	2.6
1999	45.8	15.5	7.8	2.6
2000	45.0	15.6	8.0	2.7
2001	48.0	16.0	8.5	2.8
2002	46.5	17.0	9.2	2.8
2003	50.3	17.6	9.2	2.8
2004	48.6	17.7	9.6	2.9

Average custodial sentence length in months( 1) for rape, murder, robbery, manslaughter( 3) and sexual assault( 4) 1996-2004
	Rape	Murder	Robbery	Manslaughter	Sexual assault
1996	77.8	(5)—	38.1	60.9	24.0
1997	78.7	(5)—	39.1	62.5	24.5
1998	79.8	(5)—	35.3	58.0	24.8
1999	79.8	(5)—	35.7	59.2	24.1
200C	83.2	(5)—	36.1	60.2	24.6
2001	81.1	(5)—	35.4	58.9	25.4
2002	83.7	(5)—	38.9	65.4	26.3
2003	86.4	(5)—	39.3	62.8	26.3
2004	84.4	(5)—	38.4	64.5	27.4

Average custodial sentence length in months, all offences 1996-2004
	All offences
1996	12.8
1997	12.7
1998	11.8
1999	11.5
2000	11.4
2001	11.8
2002	12.6
2003	12.6
2004	12.9
(1) Excluding life sentences (2) Common assault and assault on a police officer (3) Common Law Manslaughter and Manslaughter due to diminished responsibility (4) Indecent assault on males and females (5) Murder carries a mandatory life sentence Source: RDS NOMS 11 July 2006

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Treasury

Aquaculture Projects (Orkney and Shetland)

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many aquaculture projects pay rent to the Crown Estate in Orkney and Shetland; and what total annual income has been generated from such rents in each of the last three years. [86047]

John Healey: The Crown Estate has issued 28 aquaculture leases for Orkney and 187 aquaculture leases for Shetland total annual income figure generated from fish farming over the past three years is as follows:

Fish farming
£
Financial year	Orkney	Shetland	Total
2003-04	50,900	598,000	648,900
2004-05	111,000	885,100	996,100
2005-06	(1)132,000	518,000	650,000
(1) The Orkney fish farming rental income for 2005-06 includes a post-audit payment of £34,000 in settlement of outstanding rent from production of fish in 2003.

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