To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance his Department has issued on (a) the use of fixed penalty notices and (b) the level of fines issued by fixed penalty for (i) shoplifting, (ii) sexual offences and (iii) household waste offences. (294894)

I have been asked to reply.

The Secretary of State for Justice issued revised operational guidance to police forces on 16 July 2009, restricting the use of penalty notices for disorder for shop theft to first-time offenders who are not substance abusers, where the value of the goods is less than £100, and normally where the goods have been recovered. The guidance can be found at

http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/criminal-justice-police-act-retail-pnd.htm

The level of the penalty is fixed by law at £80 for adults and £40 for juveniles.

Fixed penalty notices cannot be issued for sexual offences.

Following the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005, DEFRA issued guidance on the use of fixed penalty notices (FPNs) for a range of offences, including those related to waste receptacles. A link to the guidance, as well as additional information on environmental FPNS is as follows.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/local/legislation/fpn/index.htm