Part of Criminal Justice Bill – in a Public Bill Committee am 2:30 pm ar 27 Chwefror 2003.
Dominic Grieve
Shadow Minister (Home Affairs)
2:30,
27 Chwefror 2003
In principle, I have no objection to the measure, but it gives us the opportunity to discuss how we enforce fines. It can be done in several ways, but if the message is sent out that even those offenders who try to buck the system will have to serve only a short term of imprisonment, we may fail to emphasise the need to comply with the payment of fines. The Minister may find this odd, but if we reach the point of locking someone up for fine default, it could be argued that they should be locked up for the full term, especially as terms of imprisonment tend not to be long and a person will usually have been dragged through a series of hoops to get to that position.
I reassure the Minister that I do not intend to vote against the new Clause, but it does raise certain issues. The fining system needs to work better. We have discussed the amount of outstanding fines. We know that a huge percentage of fines are not paid or collected and that people manage to slip completely from the clutches of the law. No one wants to lock up people for non-payment if there are other ways of dealing with the problem. We discussed seizing cars and other measures that could be equally effective, but we need to send an appropriate message about failure to co-operate. After all, if someone genuinely cannot pay a fine, there should be no difficulty in their going back to court and asking for the fine to be reduced or remitted. We need a system with some bite. I welcome new clause 8 but hope that the Minister will bear those points in mind when considering the issue of fine enforcement.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
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A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
