New Clause 2
Employment Bill [Lords]
2:45 pm
Michael Jabez Foster (Hastings and Rye, Labour)
I would like to know what the problem is. At present, this is a straightforward issue of the judgment—the award—being registered in the county court and then enforced. There are problems with county court enforcements: often the employer does not have the money; it is a matter of the resources not being there. I cannot see how a new system—a new bureaucracy of enforcement—would help.
I want to discover how this new organisation would operate under the new clause. How would it differ from the current, relatively simple process of attaching an affidavit to the award and registering it in the county court? That is all that happens at the moment. Then there is the enforcement problem to consider. Is it being suggested that the rules under the new clause should be enforced in respect of criminal proceedings, such as an award in a magistrates court? What is the logic behind the new clause that would make its new methods of enforcement different from those now available in the county court?