asked Her Majesty's Government:How many
(a) men and (b) women were imprisoned for non-payment of rates, poll-tax or council tax in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994 respectively.
Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter to Lord Harris of Greenwich from the Director of Operations (North), HM Prison Service, Mr. A. J. Pearson, dated 21 June 1995:
Lady Blatch has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question asking how many (a) men and (b) women were imprisoned for non-payment of rates, community charge or council tax in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994 respectively.
Information for 1991 and 1992 is published in Prison statistics, England and Wales (Table 6.3 of the 1992 edition, Cm. 2581), an extract of which is attached. Provisional information for 1993 and 1994 is given in the attached table.
Table 6.3: Receptions into Prison Service establishments: by sex and type of committal, 1982–92
| |||||||||||
England and Wales
| |||||||||||
Non-criminal prisoners
| Number of persons
| ||||||||||
Type of committal
| 1982
| 1983
| 1984
| 1985
| 1986
| 1987
| 1988
| 1989
| 1990
| 1991
| 1992
|
All males and females
| 4,715 | 4,050 | 3,683 | 3,444 | 3,665 | 3,399 | 3,032 | 3,021 | 2,314 | 2,791 | 3,109 |
All males
| 4,543 | 3,863 | 3,532 | 3,331 | 3,586 | 3,320 | 2,949 | 2,917 | 2,238 | 2,680 | 2,968 |
| Committed for nonpayment of: | |||||||||||
| Wife maintenance (including wife and child maintenance) | 1,770 | 1,311 | 937 | 721 | 591 | 516 | 382 | 271 | 192 | 240 | 167 |
| Child maintenance | 68 | 42 | 31 | 38 | 51 | 18 | 17 | 12 | 51 | 58 | 80 |
| Arrears under an affiliation order | 261 | 157 | 121 | 91 | 57 | 70 | 36 | 33 | 27 | 20 | 3 |
| Rates | 446 | 432 | 393 | 363 | 351 | 336 | 253 | 181 | 172 | 198 | 188 |
| Community charge | *
| *
| *
| *
| *
| *
| *
| *
| 1 | 104 | 476 |
| Other debts | 107 | 71 | 76 | 73 | 66 | 65 | 59 | 55 | 69 | 73 | 37 |
| In contempt of court | 933 | 934 | 1,020 | 936 | 976 | 924 | 810 | 798 | 550 | 584 | 532 |
| Persons held under the Immigration Act 19711 | 897 | 822 | 893 | 1,044 | 1,408 | 1,324 | 1,309 | 1,400 | 893 | 1,185 | 1,221 |
| Others | 61 | 94 | 61 | 65 | 86 | 51 | 48 | 68 | 95 | 78 | 36 |
| Committal type not recorded | *
| *
| *
| *
| *
| 16 | 35 | 99 | 188 | 140 | 228 |
All females
| 172 | 187 | 151 | 113 | 79 | 79 | 83 | 104 | 76 | 111 | 141 |
| Committed for nonpayment of: | |||||||||||
| Child maintenance | 3 | 6 | 1 | — | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | 1 |
| Rates | 37 | 29 | 27 | 21 | 15 | 14 | 11 | 16 | 22 | 30 | 24 |
| Community charge | *
| *
| *
| *
| *
| *
| *
| *
| — | 9 | 28 |
| Other debts | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | — | — | 2 | 2 | — |
| In contempt of court | 40 | 37 | 38 | 46 | 40 | 41 | 43 | 22 | 16 | 23 | 22 |
| Persons held under the Immigration Act 19711 | 66 | 50 | 56 | 22 | 14 | 15 | 24 | 48 | 23 | 40 | 51 |
| Others | 23 | 62 | 27 | 19 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 8 | 2 | 4 |
| Committal type not recorded | *
| *
| *
| *
| *
| 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 11 |
1 The figures do not include persons received by detention centres by Immigration Service. | |||||||||||
Receptions of non criminal prisoners into Prison Service establishments in England and Wales
| ||||
Offence
| 1993 1
| 1994 1
| ||
Males
| Females
| Males
| Females
| |
| Non-payment of rates | 173 | 21 | 98 | 16 |
| Non-payment of community charge | 1,249 | 177 | 1,173 | 188 |
1 Provisional figures. | ||||