Clause 45
Education and Skills Bill
2:45 pm
Jim Knight (Minister of State (Schools and Learners), Department for Children, Schools and Families; South Dorset, Labour)
Amendments Nos. 34 to 36 would replace the possibility of a prosecution and a criminal fine on breach of an attendance notice with liability for a civil penalty not exceeding £200, as the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings said. Naturally, I considered that and other options, but I concluded that a civil enforcement system would not work in practice. I have set out the reasons for that previously, although I am not optimistic that the hon. Gentleman will accept them given the hard line he took in his opening comments, saying that unless I persuaded him, he would press the amendment to a Division. However, I will have another go.
Civil penalties would be enforced in civil courts, which are not geared to dealing with young people in the way that youth courts are. For example, judges in the youth court receive specialist training on dealing with young people, and the court is not open to the general public. The amount of a fine in a youth court is set by the court, taking into account the young person’s means. Persons under the age of 18 may be sued in civil courts, but there are complex rules under part 21 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, such as the requirement in most instances to be represented by a litigation friend. In addition, although debts may be enforced using civil recovery methods, such as recovery by bailiffs, in practice such methods are rarely used against people under the age of 18. The local authority would have to pay a court fee to pursue the civil enforcement method, which also might not be appropriate in practice, and would leave the authority with mounting costs. Court fees and costs are added to the debt in the civil courts, which does not happen with a fine in the youth courts.