§ Mr. O'Halloranasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the total amount of fines imposed in courts which have been written off as irrecoverable debts since the introduction of payment of fines by instalments.
§ Mr. JohnPayment of fines by instalments was introduced during the last century. Information on the total amount of fines which have been written off as irrecoverable in England and Wales is available only for the financial years from 1968–69 and is as follows:
£ 1968–69 … … 250,705 1969–70 … … 420,380 1970–71 … … 81,908 1971–72 … … 545,507 1972–73 … … 651,785 1973–74 … … 904,158 1974–75 … … 918,025 1975–76 … … 1,569,043 During these periods the amounts of fines and fees collected by magistrates' courts has increased from £13,650,366 in 1968–69 to £45.885,990 in 1975–76.