Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many children were sentenced to custody for a sentence of six months or less (a) in total, (b) for sexual offences and (c) for violent offences in 2018.

The Ministry of Justice has published information on the sentencing outcomes of court proceedings. Information on the age and ethnicity of those prosecuted, the type of crimes and the sentence given can be found by using the Sentencing data tool available here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/802321/sentencing-tool-2018.xlsx

In the Sentencing data tool:

Use the ‘Age Group’ filter and select juveniles. Use the ‘Custodial Sentence Length’ filter to select ’01: up to and including 1 month’, ’02: over 1 month and up to and including 2 months’, ’03: over 2 months and up to and including 3 months’, ’04: over 3 months to less than 6 months’ and ’05: 6 months’

In the pivot table options remove ‘Offence Type’ from the Rows field and drag ‘Offence Group’ in its place.

• The number of children sentenced for sexual offences, the number of children sentenced for violence against the person offences and the total number of children sentenced to an immediate custodial sentence of 6 months or less can be found in the table.