Burglary (Sentencing)

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Justice – in the House of Commons am 2:30 pm ar 17 Mawrth 2009.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

Photo of David Hanson David Hanson The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice 2:30, 17 Mawrth 2009

As I said in answer to Mr. Robertson, at the moment 22 per cent. of offenders convicted of burglary with no previous convictions are sentenced to immediate or suspended custody. Whatever response the courts make, I am clear that we need to ensure sufficient prison places for those for whom custody is an option in the courts. That is why we will build an additional 3,500 or so prison places in England and Wales this year alone and why we have an ambitious programme to get to 96,000 places by 2013-14. We currently have some headroom in the prison system, but we want to ensure that there will always be places for people who are sentenced. That is why we have the ambitious building programme that we do.