Clause 87
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill [Lords]
10:00 am
Simon Hughes (Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs & Shadow Attorney General, Constitutional Affairs; North Southwark and Bermondsey, Liberal Democrat)
I was trying to make points about this and the subsequent clauses rather than make such points on each one. I am grateful to the Minister, and I share her view that we have to balance people’s human rights. I have said explicitly that we should not have greater access to information than we need.
Will the Minister deal with one other matter that I raised? Is she satisfied that in this clause and the others in this part of the Bill, we are avoiding people having to come to court other than in the most exceptional circumstances? Has this part of the Bill been proofread to avoid any unnecessary or excessive court appearances, so that we keep down the risk? I am not objecting at all to people filling in the form; I would rather it was done in that way to minimise time and expense.
I have one last small point. Proposed new section 15A to the Attachment of Earnings Act 1971 refers to “the commissioners”. I presume that they are commissioners of Inland Revenue, whom I think we are abolishing elsewhere in the legislation on tribunals. Can I have an assurance that we have done the cross-referencing across the whole Bill, so that if we are ending up with a new structure, we are not left with anomalous terminology?