Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of offenders that having committed 15 or more previous offences were not sent to prison on conviction for (a) burglary and (b) violence against the person in the latest period for which figures are available.

In the year ending March 2019 there were 2,352 offenders convicted of burglary and 4,343 offenders convicted of a violence against the person offence where this was the principal offence of which the offender was convicted, where the offender received a sentence other than immediate custody and had 15 or more previous convictions or cautions for individual counts of any offence.

Sentencing is a matter for our independent courts, who take into account all circumstances of the case, including any aggravating and mitigating factors. We are clear that sentencing must match the severity of a crime.