Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the decline in the use of community sentences for (a) theft and (b) drugs offences since 2011.

Changes in the mix of offences coming to court and the fall in number of defendants appearing before court are key factors in overall decreased numbers of community sentences.

As a proportion of prosecutions, the change in community sentences for theft and drug offences since 2011 is similar to the overall change across all offence groups.

We have not made any assessment of reasons behind sentencing trends relating to these particular offences.