Courts: Fines

(asked on 14th January 2015) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2015 to Question 217822, what was the value outstanding of impositions relating to (a) fines, (b) compensation orders, (c) victim surcharge orders and (d) prosecution costs orders in each local criminal justice board area at the end of each financial year from 2009-10.


Answered by
Mike Penning Portrait
Mike Penning
This question was answered on 19th January 2015

This Government takes recovery and enforcement of financial impositions very seriously and remains committed to finding new ways to ensure impositions are paid and to trace those who do not pay. This is why there has been a year on year increase in the total amount of financial penalties collected over the last three years. The amount of money collected reached an all time high of £290 million at the end of 2013/14 and collections continue to rise. In 2013/14 the total outstanding balance of financial impositions reduced by £26.7m (5%) in the year.

The table attached shows the value outstanding at the end of March each financial year, for the impositions made in the same year, broken down into a) fines, (b) compensation orders, (c) victim surcharge orders and (d) prosecution costs. This data is only available from 2011-12 onwards.

The total value outstanding of impositions regardless of imposition date relating to (a) fines, (b) compensation orders, (c) victim surcharge orders and (d) prosecution costs orders at the end of each financial year from 2010-11, as published in the HM Courts and Tribunals Service Trust Statements, are shown in the table below. The figures for 2009-10 are not available. It is not possible to break these figures down by local criminal justice board areas without incurring disproportionate costs.

Financial Years

Fines

Compensation

Victim Surcharge

Prosecution Costs

Total

2010/11

£413,158,000

£70,122,000

£10,488,000

£131,427,000

£625,195,000

2011/12

£388,292,000

£68,484,000

£9,877,000

£130,102,000

£596,755,000

2012/13

£370,591,000

£67,564,000

£12,084,000

£128,289,000

£578,528,000

2013/14

£335,377,000

£67,918,000

£21,110,000

£126,861,000

£551,266,000

The ‘value outstanding’ figures in the table attached include accounts that were not due to be paid by the end of the period specified (either because they were imposed close to the end of the year or because they had payment timescales set by the courts for beyond the end of the financial year) and those that were being paid by instalments on agreed payment plans. These figures include fines, compensation orders, victim surcharge orders and prosecution costs orders.

It is not possible to provide figures on the amounts outstanding on fines, compensation orders, victim surcharge orders and prosecution costs orders in exactly the same format as the answer given for Question 217822 due to the constraints of the current IT system.

Reticulating Splines