Clause 90
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill [Lords]
1:00 pm

Henry Bellingham (Shadow Minister, Constitutional Affairs; North West Norfolk, Conservative)

I have a quick question about the clause. This part of the Bill is headed “Information requests and orders”. Given the title of the clause 90, I am intrigued by the wording of the provision because it states that a person who is the creditor in relation to a judgment debt

“may apply to the High Court or a county court for information about what kind of action it would be appropriate to take in court”.

In my experience of such issues, albeit many years ago, I should not have thought that there was any need to apply to the court for the information. It should be readily available anyway. Is the clause simply a back-up measure for that small number of extremely rare cases when the information is not readily available so that, if a creditor wants to enforce a debt, he would have to take the matter to court by way of an application to find the information? Will the Minister elaborate on the process?

Vera Baird (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs; Redcar, Labour)

It is the gateway for creditors to get the information request or the order that they need. Asthe hon. Gentleman rightly pinpointed, it is not about the creditor being advised about what is available as a route to recovery. The clause opens up the possibility of obtaining information that will undoubtedly steer the way forward for the judgment creditor. If the court can supply, for example, a new employer, the obvious way forward would be to attach the earnings. However, if a new address or a new national insurance number was available under the provisions to follow, that would  point in another direction to a different enforcement. The clause is a gateway provision to enable requests for information to be made.