§ Dr. GodmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many persons in 1986 were committed to prison in Scotland for default in payment of fines.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonIn 1986 there were 10,626 receptions to penal establishments for fine default. This represents a reduction of 8 per cent. from the corresponding figure of receptions in 1985 (11,564) and relative to the number of persons fined by the courts there was also a decline to 74 per thousand in 1986 from the corresponding level in 1985 (of 78 per thousand). There was a particularly marked reduction in receptions in default of fines for less serious offences such as breach of the peace (down from 3,423 in 1985 to 2,918 in 1986) and drunkenness (down even more sharply from 631 in 1985 to 271 in 1986).
The average daily population of fine defaulters in 1986, however, was 329 or 5.9 per cent. of the total average population in penal establishments in 1986.