Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of staff of his Department having access to HM Revenue and Customs information on individuals who have defaulted and are in employment on the level of collection rates of fines and compensation set by the courts.

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.

In July 2014 HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) started a pilot to utilise data provided by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to enforce outstanding financial impositions. While the pilot is limited to a number of specifically targeted cases, early indications are that HMRC are able to provide data that assists in the enforcement of outstanding accounts.

So far HMCTS has sent over 124,000 accounts to HMRC who have been able to supply HMCTS with employer’s details on 40% of those accounts and self employment details on a further 22%. In addition, HMRC has been able to provide additional information, such as addresses and phone numbers, that differ from those held on the HMCTS account.

As a result HMCTS have secured attachment of earnings orders on 66% of the accounts where HMRC have been able to supply employer’s details. Additionally, HMRC data secured on some of the accounts in the remaining 34% has enabled us to take immediate alternative enforcement action, such as the service of a further steps notice, but may also enable future enforcement by attachment of earnings should it be required.

It is not possible to identify how much has been collected as direct result of the data received from HMRC, without checking every account in scope and establishing how many of those accounts would have been paid in full in any event. However, it is possible to confirm that use of the HMRC data has resulted in accounts that have been outstanding for a number of years suddenly being paid in full as a result of the attachment of earnings order, despite many previous attempts to enforce them.