Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people were serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence with a tariff of 10 years or more in each year since 2002; and of those, how many were aged (1) 18 to 20, (2) 21to 24, (3) 25 to 29, (4) 30 to 34, (5) 35 to 39, (6) 40 to 49, (7) 50 to 59, (8) 60 to 69, (9) 70 and older, at the time of sentencing.

By law, prisoners serving life and other indeterminate sentences must complete their tariff in custody and thereafter be released only when the Parole Board concludes that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public for them to remain confined to custody. The Government is committed to supporting prisoners to reduce their risk and so progress towards safe release, but the priority is always to protect the public.

HL1735

The following table shows the number of prisoners that received a life sentence with a tariff of 25 years or more and were (1) under 18, (2) 18 to 20, (3) 21 to 24, (4) 25 to 29 (5) 30 to 34 (6) 35 to 39 (7) 40 to 49, (8) 50 to 59, (9) 60 to 69, and (19) 70 years and older, at the time of sentencing, in each year since 2002.

HL1736

The following tables show the (1) mean, and (2) median, tariff length for people receiving a life sentence aged (a) under 18, (b) 18 to 20, (c) 21 to 24, (d) 25 to 29, (e) 30 to 34, (f) 35 to 39, (g) 40 to 49, (h) 50 to 59, (i) 60 to 69, and (j) 70 years and older, at the time of sentencing, in each year since 2002.

Table 1 – ages (a) under 18, (b) 18 to 20, (c) 21 to 24, (d) 25 to 29

Table 2 – ages (e) 30 to 34, (f) 35 to 39, (g) 40 to 49, (h) 50 to 59

Table 3 – ages (i) 60 to 69, and (j) 70 years and older

HL1737

The following tables show the number of prisoners serving a sentence of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) with a tariff of 10 years or more in each year since 2002; and of those, how many were aged (1) 18 to 20, (2) 21to 24, (3) 25 to 29, (4) 30 to 34, (5) 35 to 39, (6) 40 to 49, (7) 50 to 59, (8) 60 to 69, (9) 70 years and older, at the time of sentencing, as at 30 June 2012 to 2021.

Table1 – Year of sentence: 30 June 2012 to 30 June 2016

Table 2 – Year of sentence: 30 June 2017 to 30 June 2021

Notes for all figures:

1. Due to rounding, the interquartile range may not equal the difference between the third and first quartiles.

2. Tariff length is the time between date of sentence and tariff expiry date.

3. Figures do not include whole-life orders.

4. 'NA' means not applicable

5. An asterisk (*) has been used to suppress values of one or two. This is to prevent the disclosure of individual information. Further disclosure control may be completed where this alone is not sufficient.

6. Numbers are subject to revision as more data become available.

7. The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. Data has been supplied for as many of the requested years as it is possible to provide within cost limits; earlier years may not be available due to changes in recording over time.