HC Deb 22 June 1994 vol 245 cc173-5W
Ms Corston

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many men and how many women have been imprisoned for non-payment of television licence fees in each of the last five years, giving the average amount of debt unpaid by these offenders.

Mr. Maclean

The available information is for 1991–93 and is given in the table. No information is available for the period before 1991 because the offence of non-payment of fines for using a television without a licence was not separately identified in the prison statistics. No information is available centrally regarding the amount of debt outstanding.

Receptions into Prison Service establishments in England and Wales for non-payment of the community charge, rates, other debts and for using a television without a licence:
May 1993 to April 19941
Non-criminal offences Using a television without a licence2
Month Non-payment of community charge Non-payment of rates Other debts2
Males
1993
May 97 16 23 43
June 59 12 22 45
July 106 12 32 47
August 82 10 25 45
September 96 14 29 49
October 125 8 23 48
November 96 14 20 44
December 62 6 13 34
1994
January 78 12 23 52
February 90 10 20 40
March 97 5 15 34
April 72 7 19 31
Females
1993
May 8 2 19
June 5 2 20

Receptions into Prison Service establishments in England and Wales for non-payment of fine imposed for using a television without a licence 1991–1993.
Year Number received
Males Females
1991 258 136
1992 405 163
11993 553 292
1Provisional figures

Ms Corston

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fine defaulters have been imprisoned for non-payment of(a) television licences and (b) community charge or council tax since 1990.

Mr. Maclean

The information requested is given in the table. No information is available for the period before 1991 for non-payment of fines for using a television without a licence because the offence was not separately identified in the prison statistics.

Receptions into Prison Service establishments in England and Wales for non-payment of fine imposed for using a television without a licence and non-payment of the community charge, 1991–1993.
Year
Offence 1990 1991 1992 19931
Non-payment of fine for using a TV without a licence n/a 394 568 845
Non-payment of community charge2 1 113 504 1,157
1Provisional information.
2A non-criminal offence.

Ms Corston

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) male and (b) female debt defaulters were imprisoned in each month for the latest 12 months for which information is available in respect of non-payment of (i) community charge or poll tax, (ii) rates or council tax, (iii) television licence, (iv) hire purchase and (v) other debts.

Mr. Maclean

The available information is given in the table. No information is available centrally for nonpayment of hire purchase.

Non-criminal offences Using a television without a licence2
Month Non-payment of community charge Non-payment of rates Other debts2
July 10 1 31
August 15 31
September 19 5 20
October 12 27
November 10 31
December 6 21
1994
January 9 25
February 15 28
March 20 1 19
April 12 1 22
1Provisional information.
2In default of payment of a fine.

Ms Corston

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the 20 courts passing the largest number of custodial sentences in respect of the non-payment of debts for the latest period of 12 months for which there is information, specifying in addition how many of these sentences were for non-payment of(a) television licences and (b) community charge.

Mr. Maclean

I regret that the information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.