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10 Feb 2009 : Column 1912W—continued
Offenders: Drugs
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) males and (b) females aged (i) under 17, (ii) between 17 and 21, (iii) between 21 and 25, (iv) between 25 and 29 years of age and (v) over 30 years of age and older were convicted of drug offences in England and Wales in each of the last 10 years. [254367]
Maria Eagle: Information showing the number of males and females found guilty at all courts for drug offences in England and Wales broken down by age is given in the following table.
The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for
which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence
selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
| Number of persons found guilty at all courts for drug offences, England and Wales, 1998 to 2007, broken down by age and sex( 1, 2, 3) | |||||||||||
| Age | Sex | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004( 4) | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| (1) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) Staffordshire police force were only able to supply a sample of data for magistrates courts proceedings covering one full week in each quarter for 2000. Estimates based on this sample are included in the figures, as they are considered sufficiently robust at this high level of analysis. (4) Cannabis was reclassified from a class B drug to a class C drug in January 2004, which also saw the introduction of the cannabis warning as an out of court disposal. Source: Evidence and Analysis Unit—Office for Criminal Justice Reform | |||||||||||
Prison Accommodation
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisons were exceeding their (a) certified normal accommodation and (b) operational capacity at the latest date for which information is available. [252827]
Mr. Straw: As at 19 December 2008, there were 85 prisons exceeding their certified normal accommodation. The in-use certified normal accommodation (CNA) level is the uncrowded capacity of an establishment, taking into account those places not available for immediate use (i.e. damaged cells or cells affected by building work)
There are no prisons exceeding their operational capacity. The operational capacity of a prison is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold, taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime. It is determined by area managers on the basis of operational judgement and experience.
Prison Sentences
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effects of sentences of imprisonment for public protection on (a) levels of discipline among and (b) the size of the prison population. [255447]
Mr. Hanson: Statistics on prison discipline are published annually by the Ministry of Justice in chapter 8 of the Offender Management Caseload Statistics, available publicly at:
It is not possible to provide figures on discipline hearings for prisoners subject to indeterminate sentences for public protection because the National Offender Management Service does not collect centrally information on adjudications by sentence type.
The Ministry of Justice produces annual projections of the prison population, most recently in September 2008.
Indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPP) are included in the modelling of the prison population. At the time the projections were made, the rate at which IPP were being issued was around 140(1) per month. However, changes made in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 are expected to reduce that to around 45 per month. On 15 December 2008, there were 4,960(1) IPPs in the prison population. The impact of IPP as a sentence on the population will take some time to work through as most, if not all, offenders sentenced to IPP would have in any event received a
prison sentence. Any change to the population will therefore be as a result of length of time served.
More details on the projections may be found in the latest published bulletin, “Prison Population Projections 2008-2015” Ministry of Justice Statistics Bulletin, 18 September 2008. This is available at the following webpage:
(1) Figures rounded to nearest 10.
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