§ Mr. PickthallTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the level of unpaid fines is at Merseyside Magistrates Courts. [54855]
§ Mr. WillsMagistrates' Courts Committees have responsibility for the collection of a range of debts imposed through the courts, including not only fines but also fees, compensation, confiscation orders, legal aid contributions and some maintenance orders. It is not possible to separate out just the fines from the total.
The total amount of money owed to the Merseyside courts at the end of December 2001 was £25,799,445. This figure includes impositions where deferred payment was allowed and where instalments were not yet due.
§ Mr. PickthallTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans his Department has to reduce the number of unpaid fines in England and Wales. [54856]
§ Mr. WillsLead responsibility for execution of financial penalty warrants was transferred from the police to the Magistrates' Courts Committees on 1 April 2001. No targets were set for execution of these warrants during the first year of operation to enable baseline data to be collected.
On 28 February the Lord Chancellor announced challenging targets for Magistrates' Courts Committees for 2002–03 for enforcement of both financial and non-financial penalties. I refer the hon. Member to the 391W Reply which I gave on that day to my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes (Shona McIsaac), Official Report, column 1554W.