---

Collection of Fines (Final Scheme) Order 2006

My Lords, I commend the noble Lord, Lord Evans, on introducing this order with similar clarity to that provided by Ms Harriet Harman when she introduced it to the Third Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation a week or so ago. I have some questions that are not particularly detailed, so I would be grateful if the noble Lord could address them. We broadly support this measure and offer our congratulations to the Government on the improvements in the amount of fines that have been collected. The noble Lord said that there had been an increase from 55 per cent to 83 per cent, but in the pilot areas the increase was 95 per cent, even up to 100 per cent. If money was being collected from previous years, the figure might even have gone past 100 per cent in certain years. The Government deserve some credit for that. First, can the Minister say anything about the costs of collecting these fines? He indicated that the pilot scheme was relatively cheap to operate. Can he say how much it cost per pound to collect the money in the pilot areas compared with the previous system and whether we are now getting, as it were, ““more bangs for our bucks””—as the military used to say. Secondly—I might be somewhat confused—I thought he mentioned that the figure collected last year was some £282 million, or was it £250 million out of £282 million of fines that had been imposed? In her response to questions, Ms Harman seemed to suggest at col. 6 of the Official Report of the Third Standing Committee that some £282 million had not been collected in 2005–06. If £282 million had not been collected in that year, when the collection rate had increased to 83 per cent, that would imply that the amount imposed in fines was much greater. I might have misheard the noble Lord, but I would be grateful if he could address that point because the two figures do not seem to add up. However, we broadly support the order and trust that the Government will now see improvements in the rate of collection of fines throughout the country in the same way that they have increased in the five pilot areas.