§ Ms CorstonTo 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. MacleanThe 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.
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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 CorstonTo 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. MacleanThe 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 CorstonTo 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. MacleanThe available information is given in the table. No information is available centrally for nonpayment of hire purchase.
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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 CorstonTo 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. MacleanI regret that the information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.