§ Mr. BerminghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of(a) all sentenced prison receptions and (b) all receptions of prisoners sentenced to six months or less consisted of fine defaulters in England and Wales in (i) 1993 and (ii) 1994. [30278]
397W
§ 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 Derek Lewis to Mr. Gerald Bermingham, dated 22 June 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking what proportion of (a) all sentenced prison receptions and (b) all receptions of prisoners sentenced to six months or less consisted of fine defaulters in England and Wales in (i) 1993 and (ii) 1994.The information requested is given in the table below.
Fine defaulters as a percentage of all sentenced receptions and receptions of persons sentenced to less than 6 months, 1993 and 19941 Per cent. 1993 1994 Percentage of all sentenced receptions 30.7 27.2 Percentage of receptions sentenced to less than six months 48.3 41.5 1 Provisional figures.
§ Mr. BerminghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many(a) males and (b) females were imprisoned in 1993 and 1994, respectively, for non-payment of fines; and what were the numbers of cases where the original fines were imposed for (i) motoring offences, (ii) theft and handling, (iii) drunkenness, and (iv) non-payment of television licences. [30277]
§ Mr. 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 Derek Lewis to Mr. Gerald Bermingham, dated 22 June 1995.
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking how many (a) males and (b) females were imprisoned in 1993 and 1994, respectively, for non-payment of fines; and what were the numbers of cases where the original fines were imposed for (i) motoring offences, (ii) theft and handling, (iii) drunkenness, and (iv) non-payment of television licences.Provisional information for 1993 and 1994 is given in the attached table.
Receptions of fine defaulters into Prison Service establishments in England and Wales, 1993–1994 Offence 19931Males Females 19941Males Females Theft and handling 3,802 265 2,341 186 Drunkenness 633 24 329 10 Motoring offences 8,141 202 6,432 198 Using a TV without a licence 547 278 503 260 Not recorded 82 16 2,775 125 All receptions 21,097 1,306 21,303 1,420 1 Provisional figures. The 1994 figures for types of offence are affected by a larger "not recorded" component.
§ Mr. BerminghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the proportion of the average daily population of(a) all sentenced prisoners and (b) all prisoners serving sentences of six months or less consisting of fine defaulters in England and Wales in (i) 1993 and (ii) 1994. [30279]
398W
§ Mr. 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 Derek Lewis to Mr. Gerald Bermingham, dated 22 June 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking for the proportion of the average daily population of (a) all sentenced prisoners and (b) all prisoners serving sentences of six months or less, consisting of fine defaulters in England and Wales in (i) 1993 and (ii) 1994.The information requested is given in the table attached.
Fine defaulters as a percentage of the average sentenced population and average population sentenced to less than 6 months, 1993 and 19941 1993 1994 Percentage of average sentenced population 1.5 1.2 Percentage of average sentenced population sentenced to less than six months 12.6 9.9 1 Sentenced population includes fine defaulters but excludes sentenced prisoners held in police cells.
§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many female prisoners were received into jails in England and Wales in lieu of fine default during 1994; and how many were received for non-payment of fines in relation to(a) community charge offences, (b) television licence offences, (c) soliciting and loitering, (d) motoring offences and (e) other offences which were themselves non-imprisonable. [24270]
§ Mr. Michael ForsythThe available provisional information of receptions of female fine defaulters into Prison Service establishments in 1994 is given in the table. Receptions for non-payment of community charge tax or council tax are not classified as receptions for fine default and are not therefore included in the table. Provisional information, however, shows that 188 females were received into a Prison Service establishment in England and Wales for non-payment of community charge in 1994. Separate information is not centrally available on fine default for loitering or for other non-imprisonable offences.
Receptions of female fine defaulters into Prison Service establishments in England and Wales 19941 Offence Number Using a TV without a licence 260 Soliciting 24 Motoring offences 198 Other offences 815 All receptions 1,420 1 Provisional figures.
§ Dr. JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) male and (b) female prisoners were received into gaols in England and Wales for fine default in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and how many were received for non-payment of (a) community charge, (b) TV licence, (c) motor offences, (d) sexual offences and (e) other offences which were themselves not imprisonable. [26896]
§ Mr. ForsythThe available provisional information for receptions of fine defaulters into Prison Service establishments for 1992–1994 is given in table 1. Non-imprisonable offences are not separately identifiable 399W from the offence information held centrally. Those received into prison for non-payment of community charge or council tax are non-criminal prisoners rather than fine defaulters. Information about receptions of such prisoners is given in table 2.
Information on fine defaulters and non-criminal receptions is published in "Prison Statistics, England and Wales"—tables 6.2 and 7.2 of the 1992 edition, Cm 2581, a copy of which is in the Library.
The power to imprison fine defaulters should be used only as a final sanction where the court has inquired into the offender's means and is satisfied that the default is due to the offender's wilful refusal or culpable neglect and has considered or tried all other methods of enforcing payment of the sum and it appears to the court that they are inappropriate or unsuccessful. In the case of defaulters aged 18 to 20 the court may, instead of issuing a warrant of committal, make an attendance centre order if such a disposal is available locally.
When a fine has been imposed on an offender by a court it may require immediate payment, allow time for payment, or order payment by instalments. If it orders payment by instalments it may at the same time, if the court deems it appropriate, make a money payments supervision order or, if the offender requests it, make an attachment of earnings order.
If an offender subsequently defaults on payment then the court is required to inquire again into his or her financial circumstances. A fine may be remitted in whole or in part where the original sentence was imposed on the basis of insufficient information about the financial
Table 1 Receptions of fine defaulters into Prison Service establishments in England and Wales, 1992 to 1994 1992 11993 11994 Offence Males Females Males Females Males Females Using A TV without a licence 405 163 547 278 503 260 Motoring offences 6,139 146 8,141 202 6,432 198 Sexual offences 29 1 27 — 12 — Other offences 10,797 639 12,300 540 11,581 839 Not recorded 1,412 95 82 16 2,775 125 All receptions 18,782 1.044 21,097 1,306 21,303 1,420 1 Provisional figures.
Table 2 Receptions of non-criminal prisoners into Prison Service establishments for non-payment of community charge 1992–1994 Year Males Females 1992 476 28 19931 1,249 177 19941 1,173 188 1 Provisional figures.