§ Mr. Sproatasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) whether, when estimating the amount of supplementary benefit to be paid to a claimant, on the basis of the claimant's needs and resources, his Department include among needs, the necessity of the claimant to pay court fines already imposed, which are required to be paid off at a certain sum per week;
(2) how much money was paid by his Department in the last year for which figures are available in respect of court fines to social security claimants;
(3) under what circumstances his Department pays fines imposed by the courts on social security claimants; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. OrmeThe courts are required to take account of a defendant's means and circumstances when imposing fines. I understand that the Supplementary Benefits Commission does not regard fines as an expense which should be taken into account when assessing benefit and that no such payments have been made.