fish5133
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Joined: 13 Sep 2006
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Location: One breath from Glory
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 Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 8:07 pm Post subject: Council Watch- Govt. Officials Given Police Powers To Fine |
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I am sure the Lawful Rebellion people , (www.tpuc.org) will be looking at this
| Quote: | Households face £1,000 fines from officials with police powers if they refuse to fill in their census forms
Householders could be fined up to £1,000 if they fail to fill in the census forms next year amid fears that millions of people could refuse to take part.
By Christopher Hope, Whitehall Editor
Published: 2:47PM GMT 25 Jan 2010
A dedicated team of “non-compliance” officers with police powers will be dispatched across the country to crack down on anyone who fails to fill in the forms.
This group will have official powers to caution residents and if necessary take them to court for failing to fill in the forms.
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The census, an official count of the population which takes place every 10 years, is used by local and central Government to determine spending priorities.
However there is a growing concern that the next census, on 27 March, might be ignored by millions of Britons.
Nick Hurd, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, said: “Labour’s plans for the next Census threaten to destroy public support. It is so intrusive and bloated that I fear many people will simply throw it in the bin or skim over the questions.
"The Government’s response of hiring an army of census police will alarm law-abiding families and shows how Labour have no concern for civil liberties.
"Just because Ministers have legal powers to fine people £1,000 for not answering does not mean it’s right for the state to bully householders and threaten to drag them to court.
"This is yet another sign of the bully boy state that Labour have created and the gradual criminalisation of middle Britain, fining families for the most minor of breaches of state-imposed rules.”
Each 32 page form asks detailed personal questions about families across the country. The forms have to be filled in by the head of the household and take an average of 40 minutes.
Rehearsals in some parts of the country for the 2011 count, which took place last October, found that the response rate among volunteers was as low as 21 per cent. In similar trials before the 2001 count, there was a 53 per cent response rate.
Ministers have now signalled a new ‘get tough’ approach towards non-compliance. Under the 1920 Census Act, citizens can be be cautioned under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and fined £1,000 for failing to answer questions.
However the powers have not been properly enforced previously. In 2001 just 38 people were fined for not filling in their forms.
The Government has now announced that a special “non-compliance unit” will force people to fill in their forms. Those that refuse to will be able to be interviewed under caution using the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, taken to court and fined.
Baroness Crawley, a Labour whip, told peers in the House of Lords last month: “In 2001 it was part of the regular field staff’s responsibility to caution people.
“This time there will be a dedicated non-compliance staff and prosecutions will be pursued in cases of persistent refusal to respond.”
In theory more than one million people could be caught by the crackdown, although in practice the powers are only likely to be used on people who refuse to fill in the forms.
In 2001, the ONS has admitted that it had to "impute" information for 6.1 per cent of households who failed to fill in the forms - more than 1.5million families.
Ministers have refused to publish the prosecution guidance for its census staff, insisting that “ONS considers any such guidance to be covered by legal and professional privilege”.
One in three forms are not filled in completely, leaving large blanks which are filled in by ONS staff who use an average answer using responses from neighbours.
A spokesman for the ONS said it had been expecting the lower response rate in some areas because they had been chosen to be "quite challenging" compared to others.
He said: "Every household in England and Wales is legally required to complete and return a census questionnaire.
"Inevitably, some will not do so and our field teams will try to persuade them to change their mind and complete the census questionnaire and comply with the Census Act.
"We will have a team working on non-compliance and although householders will be offered many opportunities to complete the questionnaire, for those that continue to refuse to do so legal action may be necessary.
"If legal action is required then cases would be heard in a magistrates court. The amount of the fine under the Criminal Justice Act is at the discretion of the magistrates - with a current maximum £1,000 fine.
"Pursuing a prosecution against a person would be very much the last resort at the end of a long process of offering people information and assistance." |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/7043822/Households -face-1000-fines-from-officials-with-police-powers-if-they-refuse-to-f ill-in-their-census-forms.html
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JO911B.
"for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in high places " Eph.6 v 12 |
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