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1357475

registered interest
date	22/09/2021
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, whether his Department holds annual data on the rates of committal proceedings, committal orders and days spent in prison with regard to unpaid Council Tax for the period of 2018-2021.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	53187
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2021 answer text <p>The department does not hold information on how many proceedings have been started.</p><p>Data on the number of committals to prison for Council Tax non-payment since 2018 can be found in the attached table.</p><p>On average (mean) civil prisoners received into custody for non-payment of Council Tax from 2018-2020 spent 25 days in custody.</p> answering member constituency South Suffolk answering member printed James Cartlidge question first answered 22/10/2021 13:51:45 answering member 4519 label Biography information for James Cartlidge attachment 1 file name 2021-10-22 Table for PQ 53187 Council Tax - Committal Orders - 2018 to Jun 21.xlsx title Table
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

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

1133202

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, 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 2018.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	266682
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 266684 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

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

1133212

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, what proportion of people who received a custodial sentence for council tax debt were women in each year since 2010.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	266691
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2019 answer text <p>The number of women and men admitted to prison for ‘Non-Payment: Community charge / Council Tax’ can be viewed in Table A2.12 at the link below:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/796916/receptions-2018.ods" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/796916/receptions-2018.ods</a></p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 25/06/2019 13:47:21 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

1003736

registered interest
date	09/11/2018
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
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 Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to bring England in line with the rest of the UK by ending the use of imprisonment for non-payment of council tax debt.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	189834
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/11/2018 answer text <p>Imprisonment should only ever be the last resort for non-payment of council tax. Before a magistrates’ court commits someone to prison for failure to pay their council tax, it must inquire as to the debtor’s means, and satisfy itself 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. The Government does not have any plans to change the current arrangements.</p> answering member constituency Richmond (Yorks) answering member printed Rishi Sunak question first answered 19/11/2018 16:24:15 answering member 4483 label Biography information for Rishi Sunak
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman