The Deputy will be aware that, under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service and I have no role in the matter. Section 4(3) of the 1998 Act provides that the Courts Service is independent in the performance of its functions, which includes the provision of information on the courts system.
However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the following table provides details of the number of defendants summonsed to appear before the court in 2013 and 2014 and convicted for failure to pay a fixed charge penalty notice within 56 days of receipt of the notice. In this regard it should be noted that judges are independent in the exercise of their judicial functions, subject only to the Constitution and the law. The Courts Service has advised that statistics are not compiled in such a way as to provide details of the number of persons who claimed they did not receive a fixed charge penalty notice relating to the penalty points offence.
|
Year
|
No. of defendants summonsed to Court
|
No. of defendants convicted
|
|
2013
|
47,967
|
11,055
|
|
Jan - July 2014
|
32,162
|
7,977
|
Note: These figures do not include penalty point offences which require mandatory court appearances (e.g. driving without insurance, driving carelessly, driving a vehicle when unfit). They refer to summonses issued for courts dates in the years in question, rather than the date on which the summons issues.
