David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2014-03-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many fines levied under the Immigration (Employment of Adults Subject to Immigration Conrol) (Maximum Penalty) Order 2008 of a value of (a) up to £1000, (b) between £1000 and £2000, (c) between £2000 and £5000 and (d) between £5000 and £10000 remained unpaid.

James Brokenshire

Information on how many fines levied under the Immigration (Employment of
Adults Subject to Immigration Control) (Maximum Penalty) Order 2008 of a value
of (a) up to £1000, (b) between £1000 and £2000, (c) between £2000 and £5000
and (d) £5000 and £10000 remained unpaid, is not recorded in a format
compatible with National Statistics protocols. Data constraints on electronic
records mean that the Home Office would have to examine in detail a large
number of individual case files in order to ascertain the information
required. The cost of producing the data linking civil penalties issued to our
accounting system for civil penalties which remain unpaid by value would be at
a disproportionate cost to the Home Office.

However, the Home Office has collected £30.6 million in fines through the life
of the regime and the current total value of outstanding collectable debt is £14.6
million.

The Home Office is using the Immigration Bill to make it easier to enforce
civil penalty debts in the courts and is incorporating debt recovery best
practice from across government departments, with earlier initiation of legal
proceedings for debt recovery if required.