§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to decriminalise test purchasing by under-age children on behalf of the police. [4886]
§ Mr. George HowarthI have been asked to reply.
The Ministerial Group on Alcopops will be considering the role of test purchases in helping to enforce the law preventing the sale of certain goods to young people.
586W
Number of prosecutions under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, 1982–1995 England and Wales Police Force area 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1991 1993 1994 1995 Avon and Somerset 1 — 1 1 5 — 1 2 — 2 2 7 2 — Bedfordshire — 1 3 3 3 — 2 3 1 — — — 1 2 Cambridgeshire 1 1 1 3 2 1 3 1 5 2 2 1 1 — Cheshire — — 1 — — — — — 4 — — 1 — 1 Cleveland — — — — — — — — — 4 4 4 2 1 Cumbria — — — — — — — 1 3 — — 3 2 3 Derbyshire 5 6 7 1 5 7 5 1 1 1 1 1 — 2 by the Treasury from fines for (a) speeding offences and (b) other traffic offences in each of the last 10 years. [5159]
§ Mr. MichaelThe information requested is not available.
However, information available to me suggests that the amounts shown in the following table were ordered to be paid in fines in England and Wales for speeding offences and other motoring offences during the years 1986 to 1995. (Not all fines will have been paid).
As the majority of motoring offences are currently dealt with by way of fixed penalty notices, figures of the number of notices are also included in the table. From 1 October 1986, the penalty for a non-endorsable offence was set at £12 and that for an endorsable offence at £24. These penalties were raised to £16 and £32 respectively on 1 April 1990. From 1 April 1992, the penalties were again raised to £40 for an endorsable offence and for illegal parking on a red route, £30 for illegal parking in London other than on a red route and £20 for other non-endorsable offences.
Penalty charge notices issued by Local Authorities from 1994 are excluded, as the revenue is not passed to the Treasury.