Written question asked by Peter Lloyd (Conservative) on Thursday, 5 April 2001, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 23 April 2001. It was answered by Charles Clarke (Labour) on Monday, 23 April 2001 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many mandatory sentences for burglary have been passed each year since such sentences were first introduced; what proportion of all sentences for burglary mandatory sentences represent in each of those years; and how many burglaries were reported to the police in each of those years. - Inc figures.

Answer: Sir Peter Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many mandatory sentences for burglary have been passed each year since such sentences were first introduced; what proportion of all sentences for burglary mandatory sentences represent in each of those years; and how many burglaries were reported to the police in each of those years. [157762] Mr. Charles Clarke: Under the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 (as re-enacted by the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000) which came into effect on 1 December 1999, a mandatory prison sentence of three years' minimum duration was introduced for third-time domestic burglary offenders. The Home Office's Court Proceedings Databases for 1999 and for 2000 (which are provisional) show that no such sentences have yet been recorded. An offender would have to be apprehended, prosecuted and convicted on three separate occasions since 1 December 1999 to be subject to the mandatory sentence. Such action is likely to take some time to get to court. There were 442,600 offences of domestic burglary recorded by the police in England and Wales in 1999-2000 and 16,800 persons were sentenced for this offence in 1999.

Secondary information