HL Deb 28 April 1966 vol 274 cc227-8

3.15 p.m.

LORD MERTHYR

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) whether the maximum fine for a first offence of a parent failing to send a child to school is £1; (2) if so, whether they consider this to be adequate; and, if they do not, whether they will, as a matter of urgency, largely increase it.]

BARONESS PHILLIPS

My Lords, the answer to the first part of the Question is "Yes". The answer to the second part is that Her Majesty's Government do not consider the amount to be adequate. They have been considering the question as part of a large-scale review of small statutory fines and have noted the matter for action when a suitable opportunity occurs for proposing legislation.

LORD MERTHYR

My Lords, I am much obliged to the noble Baroness for that Answer. I only want to ask one supplementary question, and it is this. Would she agree that if the penalty for this particular offence were adequate the facts emerging from my first Question this afternoon might never have done so?

BARONESS PHILLIPS

My Lords, the noble Lord knows, both as a magistrate and as a new member of the Front Bench, that I cannot give a direct answer to that question.