Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were given a term of imprisonment by each magistrates' court in Lancashire for non-payment of fines in each of the last five years.

The number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody for non-payment of fines by each magistrates’ court in Lancashire is not available from information held centrally by the Ministry of Justice on the Court Proceedings Database. In order to provide this information it would involve the manual checking of case files and to do so would be disproportionate to costs.

HMCTS takes the issue of fine enforcement very seriously and is working to ensure that clamping down on fine defaulters is a continued priority nationwide. The courts have a range of powers to enforce payment of fines, including the use of bailiffs to seize goods, and deductions from earnings or benefits. Ultimately, an offender can be imprisoned for non-payment of their fine.

Over recent years we have overseen improvements to the collection of financial penalties. There was a total of £290m collected against fines and related impositions in 2013/14 which was a record high.