Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of changes in collection rates of fines set by the criminal courts since HM Revenue and Customs data relating to defaulters was made available to court staff.

This Government takes recovery and enforcement of financial impositions very seriously and remains committed to finding new ways to encourage payment of impositions and to trace those who do not pay. This is why there has been a year on year increase in the amount of financial penalties collected over the last three years.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) started to pilot the use of data from HM Revenue and Customs in fine collection in July 2014, albeit for a number of specifically targeted cases. It is not possible therefore to provide a meaningful estimate of the impact on collection rates at present; however HMCTS will be exploring ways to assess the impact of receiving the data over coming months.