Proceeds of Crime
Justice

Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West, Labour)

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how monies and assets recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 are being used by his Department.

Jonathan Djanogly (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (HM Courts Service and Legal Aid), Justice; Huntingdon, Conservative)

The Ministry of Justice is responsible for collecting moneys paid in accordance with confiscation orders made under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. A confiscation order is an order to pay a sum of money and is enforced as if it were a fine. The Ministry of Justice pays confiscation order receipts to the Home Office, or the victim, if the court has so ordered.

The Ministry of Justice participates with other asset recovery agencies in an asset recovery incentive scheme, ARIS, under which the participating agencies receive 50% of what they collectively recover. Money available for allocation in accordance with ARIS is determined by the total value of Home Office receipts in any financial year. Incentive allocations are based on each agency's contribution to the total value of remittances from: cash forfeiture orders; confiscation orders (including part paid orders and interest); and civil recovery and taxation cases.

In recent years the Ministry of Justice share of scheme receipts has been 12.5% and income under the scheme as follows:

The income has been used by the Ministry of Justice to defray the costs of regional collection and enforcement centres, related local and central management costs and the court costs relating to the making and enforcement of confiscation orders.