§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what percentage of fines were unpaid in(a) Salisbury magistrates court and (b) Salisbury crown court in 2002–03; and if he will make a statement. [122795]
§ Mr. LeslieMagistrates' Courts Committees (MCCs) have a responsibility for the collection of a range of debts imposed by both the magistrates courts and the crown court. Debt collected includes not only fines but also fees, compensation, confiscation orders, legal aid contributions and some maintenance orders. It is not yet possible to separate out only fines from the total, so the figures provided here include all the elements above.
Data are collected centrally at MCC level, rather than at court level. In addition, the Wiltshire MCC accounting system is unable to identify the percentage of fines unpaid in the Salisbury magistrates court. The payment rate for the Wiltshire MCC in 2002–03, calculated as the percentage of the total amount collected over the amount imposed, was 68 per cent. On that basis, the percentage of fines unpaid was 32 per cent.
Information from the Wiltshire MCC indicated that the payment rate in 2002–03 for the South East Wiltshire Petty Session Area, which includes Salisbury and Devizes, was 48 per cent.