Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Referral Orders were issued in each reporting year since 2010.

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of Referral Orders issued, in each year since 2010 on principal disposal basis in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2022. This includes data on the age of offenders at the point they received a Referral Order.

To view the total number of Referral Orders issued in each year, in the data tool, navigate to the ‘Sentence outcomes’ tab. Using ‘Detailed Sentence’ filter, select ‘07: Referral Order’. The pivot table will now present the total number of Referral Orders issued, at all courts, from 2010 to 2022.

Data on the length of Referral Orders is only available from 2013/14 and can be found in the table below: Unpublished data: Average length of Referral Orders given to 10 to 17 year olds in England and Wales, years ending March 2014 to 2023

Source: Bespoke analysis of Youth Justice Application Framework (YJAF)

PQ 928-To view total number of Referral Orders issued by age in each year, in the data tool, navigate to the ‘Sentence outcomes’ tab. Using ‘Detailed Sentence’ filter, select ‘07: Referral Order’. Inside the PivotTable Fields Box, drag ‘Age range’ into the ‘rows’ box. The pivot table will now present the total number of Referral Orders issued, by age range, at all courts, from 2010 to 2022.