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Antisocial Behaviour: Fixed Penalties

Volume 492: debated on Thursday 14 May 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent representations he has received on proposals to increase the level of fines issued under the penalty notices for disorder system; and if he will make a statement. (274611)

Apart from those from the hon. Lady, no representations have been received on reported proposals to increase the fine levels for penalty notices for disorder. I will be writing to the hon. Lady shortly in response to her letter of 28 April.

Under the Penalty Notice for Disorder Scheme introduced under the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, the penalty amounts are £80 for higher tier offences such as criminal damage and £50 for lower tier offences such as trespassing on a railway. If the recipient of a notice neither pays this penalty nor opts for a court hearing a fine of one and a half times the penalty amount is registered against him and enforced as any other fine. We have no plans to change these arrangements.