Written question asked by Colin Pickthall (Labour) on Wednesday, 1 May 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 10 May 2002. It was answered by Lord Wills (Labour) on Friday, 10 May 2002 on behalf of the Lord Chancellor's Department.

Lord Chancellors Dept

Question: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, what plans his Department has to reduce the number of unpaid fines in England and Wales. - Inc ref to 28 February 2002, 380 c1554-5W.

Answer: Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans his Department has to reduce the number of unpaid fines in England and Wales. [54856] Mr. Wills: Lead responsibility for execution of financial penalty warrants was transferred from the police to the Magistrates' Courts Committees on 1 April 2001. No targets were set for execution of these warrants during the first year of operation to enable baseline data to be collected. On 28 February the Lord Chancellor announced challenging targets for Magistrates' Courts Committees for 2002-03 for enforcement of both financial and non-financial penalties. I refer the hon. Member to the Reply which I gave on that day to my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes (Shona McIsaac), Official Report, column 1554W.

Secondary information