Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November to Question 94678, if he will make it his policy to prevent courts in England issuing arrest warrants for non-payment of fines for television licence fee offences.

This Government is committed to ensuring the payment of financial penalties and it is right that the courts have a full range of enforcement powers. However, courts will typically use other methods of recovery to arrest warrants unless they are deemed inappropriate. There is currently no intention to change this approach.