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3 Feb 2010 : Column 397W—continued

Political Parties: Finance

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he plans to make an order under section 76A of the Representation of the People Act 1983 to vary the maximum amount of candidates' election expenses. [314942]

Mr. Wills: The Government do not intend to vary the maximum amount of candidates' election expenses under section 76 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 before the next parliamentary general election. In reaching
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this view I have consulted the Electoral Commission, who agree that an increase in spending limits is not necessary at this point. I will be placing copies of both letters in the Library.

Prosecutions: Television

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people in (a) each region of England and (b) Wales were (i) fined and (ii) prosecuted for non-payment of television licence fees in each of the last three years. [314487]

Claire Ward: The requested information is shown in the following tables.

Total fines for TV licence in each region, 2006-08
	2006	2007	2008
North East	8,640	7,814	10,107
North West	25,079	24,839	23,578
Yorkshire and Humberside	12,663	13,561	8,254
East Midlands	8,126	9,477	10,566
West Midlands	12,666	13,751	15,698
East of England	8,280	7,976	7,363
London	14,845	17,860	15,642
South East	7,459	8,423	10,117
South West	6,627	7,100	7,465
Wales	9,600	9,313	8,332
Notes: 1. The TV licensing provisions of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 were replaced by new provisions in the Communications Act 2003 which came into effect on 1 April 2004. 2. These are the numbers fined against for all offences under the Wireless Telegraphy Act which mainly but not exclusively covers TV licensing offences. 3. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice

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Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for television licence evasion, by Government office region, England and Wales, 2006 - 08( 1, 2)
	2006( 3)	2007( 4)	2008( 4)
North East	9,407	8,456	10,342
North West	27,153	26,657	25,536
Yorkshire and Humberside	14,283	14,820	13,080
East Midlands	9,221	10,534	11,111
West Midlands	14,234	15,147	17,425
East of England	9,642	9,145	8,458
London	19,308	22,791	19,583
South East	8,805	9,786	11,780
South West	7,616	8,139	8,165
Total England	119,669	125,475	125,480
Wales	10,461	10,073	9,064
Total Wales	10,461	10,073	9,064
Total England and Wales	130,130	135,548	134,544
(1) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) As well as television licence evasion, these data include proceedings for summary offences under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 to 1967. (4) These figures relate to the offence of television licence evasion under the Communications Act 2003. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice.

These data are presented on the principal offence basis: where an offender has been sentenced for more than one offence, the principal offence is the one for which the heaviest sentence was imposed; where the same sentence has been imposed for two or more offences, the principal offence is the one for which the statutory maximum is most severe.

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people in Northern Ireland were (a) prosecuted and (b) fined for non-payment of the television licence fee (i) in total, (ii) by local authority area and (iii) by constituency in each of the last three years. [314674]

Bridget Prentice: In 2008, 5,272 people in Northern Ireland were prosecuted for non-payment of the television licence fee and 4,118 fines imposed.

In 2007, 5901 people were prosecuted and 4,464 fines imposed.

Corresponding information for 2006 is not available.

Information is not collected by local authority area or by constituency. However, the following table shows information for 2007 and 2008 for magistrates courts across Northern Ireland:

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Defendants prosecuted for no TV licence-2007
Magistrates court office	Number of defendants	Number of fines
Belfast	1,573	1,204
Newtownards	188	154
Downpatrick	136	110
Craigavon	330	264
Armagh	181	127
Banbridge	52	37
Omagh	149	103
Strabane	91	69
Antrim	221	172
Londonderry	694	493
Enniskillen	114	89
Coleraine	305	233
Newry	362	245
Limavady	252	198
Magherafelt	94	74
Ballymena	262	186
Bangor	147	115
Larne	93	62
Lisburn	387	308
Dungannon	270	221
Total	5,901	4,464

Defendants prosecuted for no TV Licence-2008
Magistrates court office	Number of defendants	Number of fines
Belfast	1,620	1,334
Newtownards	264	212
Downpatrick	116	97
Craigavon	330	255
Armagh	231	171
Banbridge	76	53
Omagh	154	98
Strabane	75	51
Antrim	105	75
Londonderry	384	313
Enniskillen	125	87
Coleraine	277	213
Newry	319	223
Limavady	102	72
Magherafelt	81	64
Ballymena	168	134
Bangor	150	100
Larne	67	53
Lisburn	345	279
Dungannon	283	234
Total	5,272	4,118

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