Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were prosecuted under the single justice procedure in each month of 2019 by type of offence; and what the plea rates were for offences charged under the single justice procedure in each of those months.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Data showing the number of defendants dealt with via single justice procedures (SJP) notices at the magistrates’ courts by plea and offence in England and Wales for 2019 can be found in the attached table.
The data supplied is a subset of published information relating to the timeliness of defendants dealt with by SJP notice which is available in Table 1 of the Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly, January to December 2019.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) people in total and (b) women were sent to prison for the non-payment of a magistrates’ court fine arising from a conviction for evasion of payment of TV licence fees in 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
In 2020, there were no admissions into prison associated with failing to pay a fine in respect of the non-payment of a TV licence in England and Wales.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were handed down a prison sentence due to non-payment of council tax in (a) 2019 and (b) 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Non-payment of council tax is not a criminal offence and cannot attract a custodial sentence. However, as a last resort, a magistrates’ court has the option to commit an individual to prison for non-payment.
Before a magistrates’ court commits someone to prison for failure to pay their council tax, it must have issued a “liability order” and the local authority must have (at least) tried and failed to take control of the debtor’s goods and sell them to recover the debt. Councils have additional powers of enforcement under a liability order, including deduction from earnings, deduction from benefit, charging orders on the property, and bankruptcy. If a council applies for committal to prison, the court must inquire into the debtor’s means, and the council must satisfy the court that there is no other effective method of collection and that failure to pay is due to wilful refusal or culpable neglect. This is to prevent persons who are genuinely unable to pay their council tax from being committed to prison. Where that is the case, courts have the power to remit the debt.
Data on the number of non-criminal admissions to prison for non-payment of council tax, covering the period 1990 – 2020, can be viewed in Table A2.12 at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/983553/Receptions_2020.ods
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much revenue was raised from fines paid following TV licence fee non-payment convictions in each year from 2012.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much prosecutions for non-payment of the TV licence cost his Department in each year since 2012.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested is not held centrally.
HM Courts & Tribunals Service is unable to disaggregate costs specifically related to the prosecution of non-payment of TV Licences from the overall costs of the magistrates’ court.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in how many prosecutions for TV Licence fee non-payment charges were withdrawn (a) after a Single Justice Procedure was sent to the defendant and (b) after a plea was entered by the defendant.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice has published the number of prosecutions, convictions and sentencing outcomes (including fine amounts) for the non-payment of TV licence fees up to December 2020, available in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987715/outcomes-by-offence-2020.xlsx
Number of charges withdrawn can be found in the Magistrates’ courts data tool: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987723/magistrates-court-2020.xlsx
It is not possible to distinguish at which stage the charge was withdrawn, whether the offence was dealt with under a Single Justice Procedure or information regarding plea at magistrates’ court.
Centrally held Ministry of Justice court proceedings data does not record committals for default of fine payment because the offence will be recorded under contempt of court, which will not separately identify non-payment of fines. This information can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many committal orders were made by Magistrates’ Courts in England and Wales against women for default of payment of fines (a) in total and (b) in relation to a conviction for the non-payment of (i) a TV licence fee fine and (ii) council tax in 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice has published the number of prosecutions, convictions and sentencing outcomes (including fine amounts) for the non-payment of TV licence fees up to December 2020, available in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987715/outcomes-by-offence-2020.xlsx
Number of charges withdrawn can be found in the Magistrates’ courts data tool: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987723/magistrates-court-2020.xlsx
It is not possible to distinguish at which stage the charge was withdrawn, whether the offence was dealt with under a Single Justice Procedure or information regarding plea at magistrates’ court.
Centrally held Ministry of Justice court proceedings data does not record committals for default of fine payment because the offence will be recorded under contempt of court, which will not separately identify non-payment of fines. This information can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department handed down in fines to people sentenced for TV Licence fee non-payment in each year since 2012.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice has published the number of prosecutions, convictions and sentencing outcomes (including fine amounts) for the non-payment of TV licence fees up to December 2020, available in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987715/outcomes-by-offence-2020.xlsx
Number of charges withdrawn can be found in the Magistrates’ courts data tool: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987723/magistrates-court-2020.xlsx
It is not possible to distinguish at which stage the charge was withdrawn, whether the offence was dealt with under a Single Justice Procedure or information regarding plea at magistrates’ court.
Centrally held Ministry of Justice court proceedings data does not record committals for default of fine payment because the offence will be recorded under contempt of court, which will not separately identify non-payment of fines. This information can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there were for the non-payment of TV licence fees (i) in total and (ii) of women in 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice has published the number of prosecutions, convictions and sentencing outcomes (including fine amounts) for the non-payment of TV licence fees up to December 2020, available in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987715/outcomes-by-offence-2020.xlsx
Number of charges withdrawn can be found in the Magistrates’ courts data tool: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987723/magistrates-court-2020.xlsx
It is not possible to distinguish at which stage the charge was withdrawn, whether the offence was dealt with under a Single Justice Procedure or information regarding plea at magistrates’ court.
Centrally held Ministry of Justice court proceedings data does not record committals for default of fine payment because the offence will be recorded under contempt of court, which will not separately identify non-payment of fines. This information can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many loss of time orders have been made by the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.