Arrests Mr. Ruffley To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) prosecutions have been made and (b) fixed penalty notices have been issued by (i) police and (ii) local authorities for (A) fly tipping, (B) graffiti, (C) dog fouling, (D) the dropping of litter and (E) parking offences in each year since 1997. Jonathan Shaw I have been asked to reply. Information on prosecutions at magistrates courts is held by the Ministry of Justice for (A) fly tipping offences, (B) ‘other’ criminal damage, (C) dog fouling, (D) littering and (E) parking offences since 1997; these are provided in the following tables. The offence class of ‘other’ criminal damage includes, but cannot separately identify, offences of graffiti. Data on fly posting offences cannot be separately identified from the data held by the Ministry of Justice. ------------------------------------------------------------------ | |Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates court| ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2006|1,791 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2005|1,550 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2004|1,317 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2003|985 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2002|922 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2001|732 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2000|648 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |1999|564 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |1998|516 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |1997|393 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------ | |Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates court| ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2006|13,478 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2005|12,368 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2004|13,359 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2003|13,852 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2002|14,152 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2001|13,820 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2000|12,802 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |1999|13,932 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |1998|14,148 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |1997|13,734 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------ | |Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates court| ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2006|404 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2005|473 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2004|461 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2003|454 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2002|355 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2001|366 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2000|341 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |1999|294 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |1998|184 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |1997|45 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------ | |Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates court| ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2006|2,031 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2005|1,447 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2004|909 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2003|552 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2002|333 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2001|457 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2000|466 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |1999|506 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |1998|496 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |1997|506 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------ | |Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates court| ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2006|9,059 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2005|10,972 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2004|14,710 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2003|17,729 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2002|17,554 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2001|18,966 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |2000|19,624 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |1999|22,869 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |1998|23,572 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |1997|21,051 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ Data are collected by DEFRA on the number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued by local authorities, and how many had subsequently been taken to prosecution due to non-payment. Police Community Support Officers can issue FPNs if they have the relevant approval; such FPNs are issued on behalf of the local authority and are included in the aggregated figure provided by each local authority to DEFRA each year. FPNs cannot be issued for fly tipping offences. The numbers of FPNs issued for each offence each year are included in the following tables. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Reporting year (April to March)|Number of Fixed Penalty Notices issued|Number of cases taken to court following non-payment| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2006-07 |42 |2 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2005-06 |47 |3 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2004-05 |19 |2 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As the power to issue FPNs for graffiti offences was introduced in 2003, statistics do not exist prior to this date. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Reporting year (April to March)|Number of Fixed Penalty Notices issued|Number of cases taken to court following non-payment| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2006-07 |3,675 |205 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2005-06 |4,066 |303 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2004-05 |3,557 |330 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2003-04 |2,742 |193 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2002-03 |2,036 |127 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2001-02 |2,311 |190 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2000-01 |1,817 |91 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1999-2000 |1,545 |111 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1998-99 |1,321 |90 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1997-98 |292 |11 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Reporting Year|Number of Fixed Penalty Notices issued|Number of cases taken to court following non-payment| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2006-07 |43,624 |2,144 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2005-06 |33,033 |1,002 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2004-05 |25,216 |1,100 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2003-04 |7,565 |266 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2002-03 |12,820 |169 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2001-02 |11,615 |175 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2000-01 |2,247 |66 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |1999-2000 |2,970 |30 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |1998-99 |4,777 |13 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |1997-98 |727 |74 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The parking offences for which a FPN can be issued are nuisance parking and abandoned vehicles, as defined in the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005. The first year of available data is for the period April 2006 to March 2007. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Reporting yearApril 2006 to March 2007|Number of Fixed Penalty Notices issued|Number of cases taken to court following non-payment| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |(E(i)) Nuisance parking |1,657 |0 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |(E(ii)) Abandoned vehicles |469 |16 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The police can issue penalty notices for disorder (PNDs) which can include offences such as littering. The littering offence was added to the PND scheme in 2004 when it was rolled out nationally. Data on the number of PNDs issued for littering broken down by police force area are published as a part of the publication ‘Penalty Notices for Disorder’ for 2004 data and as a part of ‘Criminal Statistics, England and Wales 2006’ (for 2005 and 2006 data). These are available on the Ministry of Justice website.