HC Deb 19 September 2003 vol 410 cc1038-9W
Mr. Hepburn

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what measures have been taken to prevent people defaulting on court-imposed fines. [130771]

Mr. Leslie

I refer the hon. Gentlemen to the Written Ministerial Statement I gave on 25 June 2003,Official Report, column 40WS in respect of fine enforcement.

Mr. Hepburn

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many and what value of court-imposed fines were defaulted on in(a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) Tyne and Wear and (d) the UK in each year since 1997. [130772]

Mr. Leslie

The data are not available in the form requested.

Magistrates' Court Committees (MCCs) have a responsibility to collect a range of debts imposed by both the magistrates courts and the crown court. Debt collected not only includes fines but also fees, compensation, confiscation orders, legal aid contributions and some maintenance orders. It is not yet possible to separate out only the fines from the total and thus it is also not possible to report on the number or the value of court imposed fines that were defaulted on.

The available data illustrating the total value of arrears outstanding at relevant Courthouse, Northumbria MCC and national are as follows.

Mr. Lammy

The majority of food is provided under catering service contracts with commercial suppliers, in addition the Department buys some food directly.

Expenditure on catering service contracts in 2002–03 amounted to £2,093,265, the amount for food bought directly for the same period was £377,209.

Information available for DCA HQ indicates that on average 52 per cent. of the food bought directly was produced in the UK. For food provided under catering service contracts, dependent on the type of product and time of year this proportion varies from 25 per cent. to 100 per cent.

DCA is working with DEFRA to implement their guidance on local sourcing and has developed an action plan with our current catering service providers to increase the proportion of local and UK produce purchased.