§ Mr. Alex CarlileTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the correlation between statistics collected by his Department and those of the Lord Chancellor's Department concerning the number of people imprisoned for failure to pay fines imposed for the non-payment of television licences in 1996; and if he will make a statement. [8890]
§ Miss Widdecombe[holding answer 17 December 1996]: The statistics on the number of people imprisoned for failure to pay fines imposed for the non-payment of television licences are taken from the Prison Service receptions data. The latest figures were given in a reply to the hon. Member for Caernarfon (Mr. Wigley), Official Report, columns 385–86.
The Lord Chancellor's Department does not have a separate source for this information and has written correcting information previously supplied to certain hon. Members.
§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many television licence fine defaulters were imprisoned in 1995; what was the average sentence they served; and what are the equivalent figures for 1996. [9325]
§ Miss Widdecombe[holding answer 16 December 1996]: Responsibility 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 Richard Tilt to Mr. Nick Ainger, dated 18 December 1996:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking, how many television licence fine defaulters were imprisoned in 1995, what was the average sentence they served and what are the equivalent figures for 1996.Provisional information for January to October 1996 shows that 293 people were received into prison for defaulting on a fine after conviction for using a television without a licence. Information for 1995 is published in "Prison statistics England and Wales" (table 7.2 of the 1995 edition, Cm 3355, a copy of which is available in the library) and shows that 735 (500 males and 235 females) were received for this offence over the year. The average time served by fine defaulters is about one week.
§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average daily cost of imprisoning television licence fine defaulters in(a) 1996 and (b) 1995. [9324]
§ Miss Widdecombe[holding answer 16 December 1996]: Responsibility 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 Richard Tilt to Mr. Nick Ainger, dated 18 December 1996:
The Home Secretary has asked me to respond to your recent Question about the average daily cost of imprisoning television licence fine defaulters in 1996 and 1995.We do not calculate the cost of imprisonment for television licence defaulters separately from other offenders. The average cost 712W per prisoner for the financial year 1995–96 was £24,233 (£66.4 per day). The average per prisoner for April to September 1996 was £63.5 per day, or £23,190 for a full year.