Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many women sentenced in the Intensive Supervision Court in Birmingham received a community order with (1) a drug rehabilitation requirement, (2) a mental health treatment requirement, (3) an alcohol treatment requirement, (4) an unpaid work requirement, and (5) a curfew requirement, since June 2023.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Since the launch of the Birmingham Intensive Supervision Court in June 2023 through to the end of February 2025, a total of 77 women have been sentenced to a community order. The breakdown of the attached requirements are as follows:
(1) a drug rehabilitation requirement – 38 (49%)
(2) a mental health treatment requirement – 62 (81%)
(3) an alcohol treatment requirement – 17 (22%)
(4) an unpaid work requirement – less that 5 (less than 6%)
(5) a curfew requirement – less than 5 (less than 6%)
Note: counts of less than 5 have been suppressed for privacy reasons.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many women have been sentenced in the Intensive Supervision Court in Birmingham since June 2023; and how many received (1) community orders, and (2) suspended sentence orders.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Since the launch of the Birmingham Intensive Supervision Court in June 2023 through to February 2025, 96 women have been sentenced under the Birmingham Intensive Supervision Court. 77 women (80%) were sentenced to a Community Order and 19 women (20%) were sentenced to a Suspended Sentence Order.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average number of requirements attached to a community order given to a woman sentenced in the Intensive Supervision Court in Birmingham since June 2023.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Since the launch of the Birmingham Intensive Supervision Court in June 2023 through to the end of February 2025, the average number of requirements attached to a community order under the Birmingham Women’s Intensive Supervision Court has been three requirements per order.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the annual cost of a community order with (1) a drug rehabilitation requirement, (2) a mental health treatment requirement, (3) an alcohol treatment requirement, (4) an unpaid work requirement, and (5) a curfew requirement.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We do not hold the information in the format requested. To produce and quality assure the information requested would be of disproportionate cost.
The average cost to the Probation Service in 2023-24 of an additional person on the probation licence caseload (including probation pre-release costs) was estimated at c.£4,500 compared with c.£3,150 for an additional person on the probation court order caseload (community orders and suspended sentence orders). This can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65537c7d50475b000dc5b590/Sentencing_Bill_-_IA_-_HDC.pdf.
These costs cover requirements such as unpaid work as well as sentence management time. They do not, however, include treatment costs for drug rehabilitation requirements, mental health requirements, alcohol treatment requirements and do not include curfew costs. Note that the costs presented exclude some costs to the Ministry of Justice, such as costs not directly tied to changes in probation caseload and Ministry of Justice HQ costs. Costs of individuals will vary considerably based on a number of factors including risk levels, requirements and needs.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the annual cost of post-sentence supervision of an individual.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We do not hold the requested information on the annual cost of post sentence supervision.
The average cost to the Probation Service in 2023-24 of an additional person on the probation licence caseload (including probation pre-release costs) was estimated at c.£4,500 compared with c.£3,150 for an additional person on the probation court order caseload (community orders and suspended sentence orders). This can be found through the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65537c7d50475b000dc5b590/Sentencing_Bill_-_IA_-_HDC.pdf.
Note that the costs presented exclude some costs to the Ministry of Justice, such as costs not directly tied to changes in probation caseload and Ministry of Justice HQ costs. Costs of individuals will vary considerably based on a number of factors including risk levels, requirements and needs
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much in outstanding fines was written off administratively in (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) does all that it can to ensure that defendants pay what they owe, and that justice is delivered. However, in very limited circumstances HMCTS will administratively cancel the outstanding balance. The scenarios in which this can happen are severely restricted, and, in the event that the defendant’s circumstances change, the balance can be written back and enforcement recommenced.
The table below details the amounts of fines administratively written off and written back each financial year from 2016 onwards
Financial year | Administratively cancelled fines written off £000 | Administratively cancelled fines written back £000 | Net amount written off/ (written back) as disclosed in HMCTS Trust Statement £000 |
2016/17 | 3,057 | (20,782) | (17,725) |
2017/18 | 12,107 | (56,548) | (44,441) |
2018/19 | 8,261 | (16,583) | (8,322) |
2019/20 | 10,938 | (1,480) | 9,458 |
2020/21 | 9,442 | (645) | 8,797 |
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many individual offenders were committed to prison as a way of enforcing a court fine in (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
The below table provides the number of committals to prison for non-payment of financial penalties imposed by the criminal courts. We are not able to say how many of these were made specifically in relation to fines.
Sentenced* admissions into prison – for non-payment of financial penalties
2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
398 | 257 | 163 | 125 | 63 |
* Sentenced admissions provide a count of prisoners that are classified as sentenced (i.e. the custodial punishment has been decided for the offender) following a court hearing for the first time in the reporting period.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many individual offenders were issued attendance centre orders as a way of enforcing a court fine in (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
The table provided below shows the number of cases heard in the magistrates’ court that resulted in a specific code to signal that an Attendance Centre Order (ACO) had been made in default of a financial penalty imposed by the criminal courts. It is possible that further ACOs were made that did not utilise this code. In respect of the data provided we are not able to say how many of these were made specifically in relation to fines (as opposed to other financial penalties).
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
ACO | 86 | 33 | 13 | 8 | 3 |
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many individual offenders were issued distress warrants as a way of enforcing a court fine in (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
In 2016/17, 590,649 warrants of control (previously referred to as distress warrants) were issued in respect of financial penalties imposed by the criminal courts. Verifiable centralised records do not exist beyond this date and it would incur disproportionate costs to answer this question.
Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many individual offenders were issued deduction from benefit orders as a way of enforcing a court fine in (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
Central data does not exist in respect of the total number of Deduction from Benefit Orders issued in respect of financial penalties imposed by the criminal courts. It would incur disproportionate costs to answer this question.