HC Deb 04 July 2000 vol 353 c170W
Mr. Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he has taken to improve the enforcement of fines. [128393]

Mr. Straw

[holding answer 3 July 2000]: I am working closely with my noble and learned Friend the Lord Chancellor to improve the enforcement of fines.

Research is being carried out under the Government's Crime Reduction Programme to identify best practice in fine enforcement, to introduce a range of enforcement strategies in a number of pilot courts, and to evaluate the relative cost and effectiveness of those strategies. The project is due to be completed in autumn 2001.

In April 2001, responsibility for the execution of fines warrants will be transferred from the police to Magistrates Courts Committees. The fact that responsibility will rest with the courts will provide a sharper and clearer focus than the present arrangements, while the application and monitoring of administrative targets will ensure that the work receives a high priority within individual courts. As a result, more money—including compensation for the victims of crime—should be collected.

Measures in the Access to Justice Act 1999, which are also due to be implemented in April 2001, will allow the courts to check whether other Government agencies hold an up-to-date address for a 'missing' fine defaulter. This should prove helpful in reducing the currently high levels of financial penalties that have to be 'written off' because the offender cannot be traced.

A report on the pilot studies conducted on alternative means of dealing with fine defaulters introduced in the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 was published in February this year. A decision on the future of these measures will be made in due course.

Finally, following a relaxation in Treasury rules governing receipts, we are exploring the feasibility of developing a scheme which will allow a proportion of the income from fines to be retained ('netted-off) by the courts and used to make further improvements in enforcement rates.