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Written question asked by Nick Gibb (Conservative) on Monday, 1 September 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 19 November 2003. It was answered by Paul Goggins (Labour) on Wednesday, 19 November 2003 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his Answer of 6th March 2003, 400 c1244W, on prisons, on which (a) assumptions about future sentencing trends and (b) new policy initiatives with an agreed timetable the forecast average prison population for 2003 to 2006 is based.
Answer

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 6 March 2003, Official Report, column 1244W, on prisons, on which (a) assumptions about future sentencing trends and (b) new policy initiatives with an agreed timetable the forecast average prison population for 2003 to 2006 is based. [128559] Paul Goggins: The projected prison population for 2003-06 in the answer given by the Secretary of State for International Development, the right hon. Member for Leeds, Central (Hilary Benn) on 6 March 2003, Official Report, column 1244W, was scenario C published in Home Office Statistical Bulletin 14/02 in December 2002. It assumes that custody rates increase by 1.25 per cent. per year for males and 2.5 per cent. for females to 2005, with the increase halving thereafter. The legislative and other changes that are included in the projection are given as follows: `Narrowing the Justice Gap'--one of the delivery targets for the Criminal Justice System. Crime (Sentences) Act 1997--automatic life sentences for serious repeat offenders; minimum custodial sentences of three years for third-time domestic burglars. Crime and Disorder Act 1998--the recall of short sentence prisoners released on licence; the extension of secure remands. Early release from Detention and Training Orders (DTOs). Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programmes (ISSPs). Added days--effect of a decision by the European Court of Human Rights. The number of Immigration Act detainees. Extension of Home Detention Curfew (HDC)--the maximum period of HDC to be increased to 90 days for those prisoners eligible from 16 December 2002. An updated set of prison population projections was released on Tuesday 9 September in the April 2003 monthly brief. The projections take into account recent policy changes, such as the extension to HDC in July, and sentencing trends.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
128559; 413 c1037W
Session
2002-03
Subjects
Prisoners Prisons Overcrowding Population
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk