Clause 46
Policing and Crime Bill
12:15 pm
Vernon Coaker (Minister of State (Policing, Crime & Security), Home Office; Gedling, Labour)
I understand the hon. Gentleman’s point, I just do not agree with it. I rarely say that I just do not agree with people. There is a process and the clause is about speeding up that process and not wasting the court’s time, while ensuring that the power is used in a necessary and proportionate way.
When I went through the Bill I ensured that it contained all sorts of safeguards. If someone receives a forfeiture notice saying that this mythical £10,000 will be detained and held by the state, there are 30 days in which they can object. If they do so, there will be a court hearing. If the court decides that the forfeiture notice should become an order, there is another 30 days in which to object—that is 60 days.
In exceptional circumstances, the person can go to the court and put the case made by the hon. Gentleman. They could say, “I’m sorry, I live in Spain. I come back to my place in the UK every three months and, goodness me, when I returned I found a notice in my letter box saying that I will lose £10,000.” Being an honest person, they might ring the court and say, “The exceptional circumstance is that I forfeited the money while I was in Spain. How was I supposed to know?” The Bill will give that person the right of appeal to the court to say that there were exceptional circumstances for running out of time. Because they were in Spain for three months, they can go to the court and it can set aside the order.
There have been many debates on this provision on real issues. I understand the point about traditional oversight and such things. However, on this issue, the only people with anything to worry about are those who have obtained cash criminally, had it detained and as a consequence will forfeit it unless they follow due process. The clause is an important part of the Bill. I would have hoped that the judicial oversight, the additional time available and the appeal would have been sufficient, but I have clearly failed to convince the hon. Gentleman of that. We have tried to build in the necessity to ensure that more cash is forfeited with judicial oversight.