§ Mr. MaddenTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many mitigated penalty offers were made by the vehicle registration office to vehicle owners without valid excise licences in each of the last three years; how many such offers have been(a) accepted and (b) refused; and what was the net expenditure of such offers in each of the last three years.
§ Mr. ChopeThe number of mitigated penalties offered and accepted for the last three calendar years were:
Offered Accepted 1988 399,799 185,131 1989 377,122 184,131 1990 450,809 216,277 Where offers to settle out of court are not accepted, it is the Department's policy to take prosecution action wherever possible against evaders. The total amounts recovered in fines, penalties and costs ordered by the courts as well as in accepted mitigated penalties for the last three years were:
Fines, penalties and costs £ million Accepted mitigated penalties £ million 1988 25.6 7.2 1989 25.6 7.2 1990 27.3 8.5 The direct staff costs incurred by the Department's officials in enforcing the payment of vehicle excise duty were approximately £10 million per year.