§ 29. Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware of the growing practice of persons failing to pay their fines when found guilty in courts; what, at the latest convenient stated date, were the amount of fines outstanding; how long on average have these fines been outstanding; and whether he will give comparable figures in retrospect for the longest convenient period of time.
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§ Mr. Elystan MorganI regret that figures in the form requested by my hon. Friend are not available. At the end of the financial year 1967–68 the total "arrears" in magistrates' courts in England and Wales outside Inner London amounted to £2,968,000; but this figure includes many fines, or parts of fines, the time for payment of which had not expired. In the same year these courts collected £11,312,000 and about £172,000 was written off as irrecoverable. The corresponding figures for 1966–67 were £2,617,000, £9,763,000 and £137,000.
Name of Force Applications received Certificates issued Applications outstanding* Barnsley … … … 257 255 — Barrow-in-Furness … … … 343 341 — Bedfordshire and Luton … … … 6,632 6,568 — Birmingham … … … 2,248 2,075 167 Blackburn … … … 266 262 — Blackpool … … … 429 426 — Bolton … … … 335 331 4 Bradford … … … 614 594 7 Bristol … … … 1,277 1,244 26 Burnley … … … 199 197 — Cardiff … … … 1,004 1,001 — Cheshire … … … 14,000 13,929 35 Coventry … … … 1,267 964 302 Cumbria … … … 8,701 8,682 14 Derby … … … 9,603 8,421 1,156 Devon and Cornwall … … … 36,500 21,000 15,476 Dewsbury … … … 181 180 — Doncaster … … … 287 286 1 Dorset and Bournemouth … … … 9,217 6,635 2,580 Durham … … … 7,039 6,996 — Dyfed-Powys … … … 20,900 20,874 17 Essex … … … 19,479 16,234 3,233 Gateshead … … … 141 140 1 Glamorgan … … … 8,151 8,124 4 Gloucestershire … … … 12,850 11,261 1,585 Gwent … … … 6,110 6,050 55 Gwynedd … … … 14,071 13,925 139 Halifax … … … 313 313 — Hampshire … … … 26,232 20,136 6,095 Hertfordshire … … … 8,848 8,787 59 Huddersfield … … … 467 462 — Kent … … … 20,537 20,264 261 Kingston-upon-Hull … … … 738 731 — Lancashire … … … 17,353 15,534 1,789 Leeds … … … 906 851 52 Leicester and Rutland … … … 11,177 11,100 69 Lincolnshire … … … 22,500 17,600 4,874 Liverpool and Bootle … … … 772 764 4 London: City of … … … 20 20 — London: Metropolitan … … … 23,000 22,706 190 Manchester and Salford … … … 652 651 — Merthyr-Tydfil … … … 488 422 62 Mid-Anglia … … … 17,027 5,000 12,021 Newcastle-upon-Tyne … … … 416 415 — Norfolk … … … 22,545 13,800 8,740 Northampton … … … 8,060 8,054 — Northumberland … … … 6,224 6,183 40 Nottinghamshire … … … 9,737 9,167 541 Oldham … … … 197 194 — Preston … … … 345 342 — Rochdale … … … 217 214 — St. Helens … … … 241 233 4 Sheffield and Rotherham … … … 1,546 1,507 38