Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many individual offenders were issued attachment of earnings orders as a way of enforcing a court fine in (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
Central data does not exist in respect of the total number of Attachments of Earnings Orders issued in respect of financial penalties imposed by the criminal courts. It would incur disproportionate costs to answer this question.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the cost to the Exchequer of enforcing court fines in England and Wales for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
The National Compliance and Enforcement Service (NCES) is a division of HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) responsible on behalf of the courts for the collection and enforcement of court-imposed financial penalties, which includes fines, and the disbursement of funds to third parties. The total spend position for the NCES over the period in question is provided in the below table:
Financial Year | £000 |
2016-17 | 59,930 |
2017-18 | 61,184 |
2018-19 | 60,433 |
2019-20 | 59,958 |
2020-21 | 52,029 |
Costs of collection and enforcement are not separable from the costs of disbursements of compensation to victims, victim surcharge, costs to the Crown Prosecution Service and other prosecution costs. Nor is it possible to break down the specific cost of pursuing unpaid court imposed financial penalties against the cost of administering financial penalties that are paid. Furthermore, it should be noted that the NCES shares a number of services with other areas across HMCTS and the MoJ (e.g. shared buildings, IT etc), the cost for which cannot be separated, and that these figures represent therefore only partial costs using a cost modelling approach.
In addition, there are costs to HMCTS if cases are referred back to court for enforcement hearings which we are unable to break down.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people in each local justice area did not pay their court fine in England and Wales within 12 months for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
The Ministry of Justice holds published information on sentencing outcomes in England and Wales up to December 2020.
Court outcomes data is not held at either local authority or local justice area geographical level. Data is published at a police force area geographical level. Data on the number of people in each police force area who received a court fine in England and Wales for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 can be found in the attached table.
We do not centrally hold data on the number of people who do not pay their court fines, and the data requested for each of these questions cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people in each local justice area received a court fine in England and Wales for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
The Ministry of Justice holds published information on sentencing outcomes in England and Wales up to December 2020.
Court outcomes data is not held at either local authority or local justice area geographical level. Data is published at a police force area geographical level. Data on the number of people in each police force area who received a court fine in England and Wales for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 can be found in the attached table.
We do not centrally hold data on the number of people who do not pay their court fines, and the data requested for each of these questions cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people in each local authority area did not pay their court fine in England and Wales within 12 months for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
The Ministry of Justice holds published information on sentencing outcomes in England and Wales up to December 2020.
Court outcomes data is not held at either local authority or local justice area geographical level. Data is published at a police force area geographical level. Data on the number of people in each police force area who received a court fine in England and Wales for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 can be found in the attached table.
We do not centrally hold data on the number of people who do not pay their court fines, and the data requested for each of these questions cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people in each local authority area received a court fine in England and Wales for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
The Ministry of Justice holds published information on sentencing outcomes in England and Wales up to December 2020.
Court outcomes data is not held at either local authority or local justice area geographical level. Data is published at a police force area geographical level. Data on the number of people in each police force area who received a court fine in England and Wales for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 can be found in the attached table.
We do not centrally hold data on the number of people who do not pay their court fines, and the data requested for each of these questions cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish annual totals from the information collected by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service in the MC100 Statements of assets and other financial circumstances for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
There are no plans to publish information from the MC100 statement of assets and other financial circumstances form.
Fines are means-tested. The value of a fine must reflect the seriousness of the offence and, when setting a fine, the court must take into account the financial circumstances of the offender, insofar as these can be assessed.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people who received a court fine in England and Wales were in receipt of Pension Credit at the time of being fined for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
We do not centrally hold data on offender income and financial circumstances, and the data requested for each question cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Fines are means-tested. The value of a fine must reflect the seriousness of the offence and, when setting a fine, the court must take into account the financial circumstances of the offender, insofar as these can be assessed.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people who received a court fine in England and Wales were in receipt of Working Tax Credit at the time of being fined for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
We do not centrally hold data on offender income and financial circumstances, and the data requested for each question cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Fines are means-tested. The value of a fine must reflect the seriousness of the offence and, when setting a fine, the court must take into account the financial circumstances of the offender, insofar as these can be assessed.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people who received a court fine in England and Wales were in receipt of Income Support at the time of being fined for (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
We do not centrally hold data on offender income and financial circumstances, and the data requested for each question cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Fines are means-tested. The value of a fine must reflect the seriousness of the offence and, when setting a fine, the court must take into account the financial circumstances of the offender, insofar as these can be assessed.