Schedule 12
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill [Lords]
11:15 am
Tobias Ellwood (Whip, Whips; Bournemouth East, Conservative)
As my hon. Friend said, they cannot be amended. It is for us to make the judgment and to debate the matter now. The Minister says that there will be consultation, but this is a major question. We are debating primary legislation. She admitted that we will now delay primary legislation and wait for secondary legislation that cannot be passed until the primary legislation is agreed. This is becoming confusing. We are asking for a simple recognition that some key aspects need to be included and must be exempt to ensure that the matter is clear-cut.
Because of their background, court bailiffs currently operate under different guidelines from private bailiffs. We are getting into an overhaul of what can and cannot be exempt, which prompted the Bill in the first place.
Paragraph 130 of the policy statement, which deals with schedule 12, says:
“It is intended that exempt goods will include tools”
and
“books”.
It does not say that it will include those. It continues:
“The definition may also include domestic pets, and sufficient cash to support basic domestic needs”,
not “it will include”. Paragraph 131 mentions
“The items that will be considered as necessary”,
rather than those that will be necessary. Paragraph 132 says:
“A computer may be considered a necessary tool”
and does not specify at all. The Minister acknowledged that there is some vagueness concerning dogs. For example, guide dogs are not mentioned. However, we are grateful that she is willing to include them. Will guard dogs be included? She hinted that they might be. Why not have clarity on all dogs—and all pets? That is what we are asking for. We are confusing things by having to delay primary legislation to have a hint about, or a glance at, the secondary legislation.