Clause 26 - Small amount outstanding: discharge of order
Proceeds of Crime Bill
5:45 pm
Mr Bob Ainsworth (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Coventry North East, Labour)
I am in great danger of damaging the reputation of Englishmen by responding to a Scottish Member in the terms that I am likely to use. We must consider the interrelation of clauses. There is provision in clauses 23 and 24 for prosecuting authorities and defendants to apply for the recalculation of available amounts. Clause 25 specifies circumstances in which to write off up to £1,000 because a straightforward calculation can be made to show that the available amount has changed for understandable reasons, such as the fluctuation of currency.
We are not discussing whether there should be reconsideration of the available amount. The clause provides for situations in which the amount is clearly attainable but is not worth chasing. We want to provide a fall-back position when the amount is not worth chasing. All the bureaucracy would have been conducted and all costs incurred, but relatively small amounts might be knocking around on the books for ever. If they are not worth chasing, there should be a provision to write them off and remove them from the ledger.
I obviously have a different value structures to other hon. Members, and I would be unlikely to let a person go and not think it worth it to chase an amount up to £50, let alone £1,000, as anybody who knows me will attest. A de minimis figure should be de minimis.
We have a structure in which we allow reconsideration of the available amount and, in specified circumstances, we set the level at £1,000. Where there are no specified circumstances, we are able to write off very small amounts. That provision is not in current legislation and such amounts stay on the books. I thought that £50 might be a little high rather than low, and I do not know why courts should not chase money that is outstanding. I would be totally opposed to raising the amount, and I ask for the amendment to be withdrawn.