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1199369

	registered interest
	date	02/06/2020
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Council Tax: Non-payment
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government how many (1) women, and (2) men, are currently serving prison sentences for non-payment of council tax.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Corston
	uin	HL4935
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2020 answer text <p>As at 30 June 2019 (latest available data) no females and one male were in prison, having been committed to prison for non-payment of council tax.</p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 16/06/2020 16:16:37 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
	tabling member	215 label Biography information for Baroness Corston

425836

	registered interest
	date	03/11/2015
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Council Tax: Non-payment
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) men, and (2) women, were imprisoned for non-payment of council tax in (a) 2012, (b) 2013, and (c) 2014.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Afshar
	uin	HL3234
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/11/2015 answer text <p>Data showing how many people were imprisoned for non-payment of council tax in 2012, 2013 and 2014 are presented in the table below:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>Male</p></td><td><p>Not Specified</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012</p></td><td><p>41</p></td><td><p>62</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013</p></td><td><p>41</p></td><td><p>60</p></td><td><p>7</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014</p></td><td><p>33</p></td><td><p>45</p></td><td><p>11</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It should be noted that there are a few cases where the gender of the defendant has not been specified and these have been shown separately in the table above.</p><p>These data are sourced from the Libra Management Information System (MIS). As such this data set is not subject to the same levels of quality assurance as national statistics</p><p>In extracting this data only offences of complaint for council tax committal application have been included where the court hearing date occurred within each year reported (i.e. between 1 January and 31 December).</p><p>It should also be noted that, although committals to prison are reported as occurring within a particular financial year, the non-payment of council tax itself may relate to a previous financial year or even a period covering more than one financial year.</p> answering member printed Lord Faulks question first answered 16/11/2015 15:31:25 answering member 4183 label Biography information for Lord Faulks
	tabling member	3847 label Biography information for Baroness Afshar

683640

	registered interest
	date	02/02/2017
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Council Tax: Non-payment
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have been subject to suspended committals for non-payment of council tax over the last three years; and what was the breakdown by (1) gender, and (2) age groups.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Afshar
	uin	HL5203
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/02/2017 answer text <p>The table below shows the number of cases subject to suspended committals for non-payment of Council Tax over the last three years by gender. There are a few cases where the gender is not known. Data relating to age is not held centrally.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Year </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Male </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Female </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Not Known</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014</p></td><td><p>549</p></td><td><p>482</p></td><td><p>148</p></td><td><p>1,179</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015</p></td><td><p>547</p></td><td><p>402</p></td><td><p>166</p></td><td><p>1,115</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016 (January -September)</p></td><td><p>313</p></td><td><p>232</p></td><td><p>137</p></td><td><p>682</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>It is possible that one defendant may have more than one case.</p><p> </p><p>Although suspended committals are reported as occurring within a particular year, the non-payment of Council Tax itself may be from a previous year or even a period covering more than one year.</p><p> </p><p>This data is sourced from the HMCTS Libra Management Information System (MIS), and does not form part of the statistics for England and Wales published by the Ministry of Justice, which can be found at: <a href="http://www.justice.gov.uk" target="_blank">www.justice.gov.uk</a>. As such this data set is not subject to the same levels of quality assurance.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 14/02/2017 16:04:54 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
	tabling member	3847 label Biography information for Baroness Afshar

428864

	registered interest
	date	17/11/2015
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Council Tax: Non-payment
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each of the last three years, in how many instances people have been imprisoned for defaulting on payment of their council tax.
	tabling member printed	Lord Harris of Haringey
	uin	HL3587
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/11/2015 answer text <p>Data showing how many people were imprisoned for non-payment of council tax in 2012, 2013 and 2014 are presented in the table below:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Total</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012</p></td><td><p>107</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013</p></td><td><p>108</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014</p></td><td><p>89</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Notes:</p><p>These data are sourced from the Libra Management Information System (MIS). As such this data set is not subject to the same levels of quality assurance as national statistics</p><p>In extracting this data only offences of complaint for council tax committal application have been included where the court hearing date occurred within each year reported (i.e. between 1 January and 31 December).</p><p>It should also be noted that, although committals to prison are reported as occurring within a particular financial year, the non-payment of council tax itself may relate to a previous financial year or even a period covering more than one financial year.</p><p>Committal to prison for non-payment of council tax can be challenged through a judicial review in the High Court. The table below shows the number of judicial reviews relating to imprisonment for non-payment of council tax in 2012, 2013 and 2014, and the outcomes.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Number of Judicial Reviews</p></td><td><p>Upheld</p></td><td><p>Refused</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Notes:</p><p>These data were obtained from a manual check of judicial reviews carried out specifically to answer this question.</p> answering member printed Lord Faulks grouped question UIN HL3589 question first answered 26/11/2015 12:41:17 answering member 4183 label Biography information for Lord Faulks
	tabling member	2671 label Biography information for Lord Harris of Haringey

428865

	registered interest
	date	17/11/2015
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Council Tax: Non-payment
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each of the last three years, what was the estimated cost to the public purse of people being imprisoned for defaulting on payment of their council tax.
	tabling member printed	Lord Harris of Haringey
	uin	HL3588
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/11/2015 answer text This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The department routinely publishes average costs per prisoner and prison place based on actual net resource expenditure for each private and public sector prison, and in summary form the whole of the prison estate in England and Wales on an annual basis after the end of each financial year. These can be found on Gov.uk. answering member printed Lord Faulks question first answered 25/11/2015 13:50:03 answering member 4183 label Biography information for Lord Faulks
	tabling member	2671 label Biography information for Lord Harris of Haringey

1133204

	registered interest
	date	19/06/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Council Tax: Non-payment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many liability orders were granted to local authorities by magistrates in England and Wales for the non-payment of council tax in each year between 2010 and 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
	uin	266684
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2019 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice does not centrally hold the information requested.</p><p> </p><p>Local Authorities are the responsible prosecuting body for council tax evasion and hold the relevant information regarding council tax debts.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard grouped question UIN 266681 266682 266685 266686 266687 266688 266689 266690 question first answered 27/06/2019 12:03:50 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

790155

	registered interest
	date	15/11/2017
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Council Tax: Non-payment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were charged with non-payment of council tax in each year from 2010 to date; and how many of those people served a custodial sentence as a result of that non payment.
	tabling member constituency	Oldham West and Royton
	tabling member printed	Jim McMahon
	uin	113171
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/12/2017 answer text <p>Non-payment of council tax is not a criminal offence. Where a person fails to pay the council tax after it has been demanded, the local authority may apply to the magistrates’ court for a liability order. Liability orders are granted for the amount owed plus reasonable costs. If they are still not paid the local authority can apply for a warrant committing an individual to prison; an individual cannot be fined for non-payment of council tax.</p><p> </p><p>The number of people imprisoned following non-payment of council tax in England and Wales, by financial year from 2010/11 to 2016/16 can be viewed in table below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>National</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2010/11</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2011/12</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2012/13</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2013/14</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2014/15</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015/16</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2016/17</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Number of Committals to Prison</p></td><td><p>111</p></td><td><p>116</p></td><td><p>98</p></td><td><p>110</p></td><td><p>86</p></td><td><p>65</p></td><td><p>106</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Number of Suspended Committal Orders</p></td><td><p>1,087</p></td><td><p>1,283</p></td><td><p>1,120</p></td><td><p>1,212</p></td><td><p>1,182</p></td><td><p>1,089</p></td><td><p>1,017</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Number of Suspended Committal Orders further Suspended</p></td><td><p>607</p></td><td><p>566</p></td><td><p>357</p></td><td><p>457</p></td><td><p>357</p></td><td><p>319</p></td><td><p>299</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="8"><p>Source: HMCTS management information</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="8"><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="8"><p>Data are taken from a live management information system and can change over time.</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="8"><p>Data are management information and are not subject to the same level of checks as official statistics.</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="8"><p>The data provided is the most recent available and for that reason might differ slightly from any previously published information.</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="8"><p>The report assumes that 'prosecutions' is a count of the number of Council Tax cases where the following results were applied: CDIMPS (Suspended Committal Order) SC (UPD - Suspended Imprisonment to enforce money owed) SUSPS (Suspended sentence order - imprisonment) CDIMPSF (Further Suspended Committal Order) CDLTI (Civil Debt etc Committal to Prison, Imprisonment (Effective Sentence) CW (UPD - Imprisonment in Default Subsequent to Imposition) IMP (Imprisonment Effective)<br> Where a Case is subject to a Suspended Committal Order, a new Case may have been created for the same Council Tax Case, which then resulted in a Suspended Committal Order being further suspended and/or an imprisonment result being applied.</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="8"><p>The issuing of a Committal Warrant does not necessarly mean that someone served a custodial sentence, as they may have paid the outstanding Council Tax at any point up to being arrested and physically taken to prison or the Committal Warrant may remain unexecuted where, for example, the defaulter cannot be traced.</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="8"><p>The data is based on the case hearing date.</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="8"><p>Data has not been cross referenced with case files.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Esher and Walton answering member printed Dominic Raab question first answered 14/12/2017 11:15:08 answering member 4007 label Biography information for Dominic Raab
	tabling member	4569 label Biography information for Jim McMahon

1328856

	registered interest
	date	27/05/2021
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Council Tax: Non-payment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were handed down a prison sentence due to non-payment of council tax in (a) 2019 and (b) 2020.
	tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
	uin	8547
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2021 answer text <p>Non-payment of council tax is not a criminal offence and cannot attract a custodial sentence. However, as a last resort, a magistrates’ court has the option to commit an individual to prison for non-payment.</p><p> </p><p>Before a magistrates’ court commits someone to prison for failure to pay their council tax, it must have issued a “liability order” and the local authority must have (at least) tried and failed to take control of the debtor’s goods and sell them to recover the debt. Councils have additional powers of enforcement under a liability order, including deduction from earnings, deduction from benefit, charging orders on the property, and bankruptcy. If a council applies for committal to prison, the court must inquire into the debtor’s means, and the council must satisfy the court that there is no other effective method of collection and that failure to pay is due to wilful refusal or culpable neglect. This is to prevent persons who are genuinely unable to pay their council tax from being committed to prison. Where that is the case, courts have the power to remit the debt.</p><p> </p><p>Data on the number of non-criminal admissions to prison for non-payment of council tax, covering the period 1990 – 2020, can be viewed in Table A2.12 at the following link: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/983553/Receptions_2020.ods" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/983553/Receptions_2020.ods</a></p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 11/06/2021 13:32:28 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
	tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

864430

	registered interest
	date	15/03/2018
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Council Tax: Non-payment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much debt was outstanding in each case where people were sent to prison for council tax non-payment in each year between 2010 and 2017.
	tabling member constituency	Stretford and Urmston
	tabling member printed	Kate Green
	uin	132913
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/03/2018 answer text <p>Her Majesty’s Courts &amp; Tribunals Service would only be able to provide the information requested at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 23/03/2018 14:03:44 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
	tabling member	4120 label Biography information for Kate Green

844086

	registered interest
	date	19/02/2018
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Council Tax: Non-payment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what comparative assessment he has made of the average (a) cost to the public purse of a prison sentence and (b) amount of debt outstanding in cases where people have been sent to prison for council tax non-payment in each year between 2010 and 2017.
	tabling member constituency	Stretford and Urmston
	tabling member printed	Kate Green
	uin	128426
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/03/2018 answer text <p>The Government has not undertaken any such comparative assessments. Magistrates’ courts should consider imprisonment for non-payment of council tax only if the failure to pay is due to the individual's wilful refusal or culpable neglect. Local council tax support schemes are available to those householders on low incomes who have difficulty in paying their council tax.</p> answering member constituency Penrith and The Border answering member printed Rory Stewart question first answered 12/03/2018 15:39:44 answering member 4137 label Biography information for Rory Stewart
	tabling member	4120 label Biography information for Kate Green