§ Mr. MaclennanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were sentenced to prison for failure to pay fines in the six-month periods beginning(a) April 1992 and (b) October 1992.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the prison service, who has been asked to arrange a reply.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Robert Maclennan, dated 20 May 1993:
The Secretary of State has asked me to write to you directly in reply to your Parliamentary Question about the number of fine defaulters committed to custody in the six month periods beginning April 1992 and October 1992.
The latest available data relate to the 6 months from 1 March 1992 to 31 August 1992.During this period 9,329 fine defaulters (8,815 males and 514 females) were received into Prison Service establishments in England and Wales. More up to date information is available about the population of fine defaulters in Prison Service establishments; this was 533 persons (506 males and 27 females) on 31 March 1993, 256 persons (254 males and 2 females) on 30 September 1992 and 328 persons (308 males and 20 females) on 31 March 1992.