§ Mr. HansonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the cost of imprisoning television licence defaulters in the years 1985 to 1995. [28227]
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. J. Butler to Mr. David Hanson, dated 15 June 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about the cost of imprisoning television licence defaulters in the years 1985 to 1995.Information on the cost of prisoners, according to their type of offence, is not collected centrally. On the basis of the number normally in custody —under 10—we estimate the costs of imprisoning these defaulters to be up to £200,000 a year.
§ Mr. HansonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were imprisoned in each of the last 10 years for the non-payment of fines relating to a television licence offence. [28228]
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from B. Landers to Mr. David Hanson, dated 15 June 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question asking how many people were imprisoned in each of the last 10 years for the non-payment of fines relating to a television licence offence.The information requested is given in the table. No information is available for the period before 1991 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, 1991 to 1994 Year Offence 1991 1992 19931 19941 Non-payment of fine for using a TV without a licence 394 568 825 763 1 Provisional information.