Fines: Compensation
Constitutional Affairs
Philip Davies (Shipley, Conservative)
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what discretion magistrates have in implementing the victims’ surcharge when the sentence is a fine.
Harriet Harman (Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs; Camberwell and Peckham, Labour)
Magistrates have no discretion in implementing the victims’ surcharge when the sentence is a fine. They have a duty under section 161A(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to impose a surcharge. By virtue of the Surcharge Order it must be imposed in all cases where the sentence is a fine, whether or not any other penalty is imposed.