Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the process for imposing fines on people for breaches of covid-19 regulations; and if he will make a statement.

The Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) scheme was put into law in order to reduce transmission of the virus, and has been an important part of enforcement measures, which allow for quick and appropriate action to be taken against people that are not following the rules. Evidence suggests that the success of measures to date has been founded on broad public support and understanding of the need for adopting safer behaviours to reduce the spread of the virus.

Police forces across the UK are operationally independent. In their engagement with the public throughout the pandemic they have used the 4Es approach of engaging, explaining and encouraging individuals to comply, before moving on to enforcement action if required. This approach has meant we have not relied on enforcement as the primary driver of behaviour, but as complementary to other measures. This has also included clearer and more consistent communications from Government on the rules.