Proceeds of Crime Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 12:15 pm on 11 December 2001.
Mr George Foulkes
Minister of State, Scottish Office, Minister of State (Scotland Office)
12:15,
11 December 2001
I beg to move Amendment No. 119, in page 97, line 3, at end add—
'(6) An order under subsection (4)—
(a) may be made after the end of the specified perid, but
(b) must not be made after the end of the period of 12 months starting with the day on which the confiscation order is made.'
Roger Gale
Vice-Chair, Conservative Party
With this it will be convenient to take Government Amendment No. 120.
Mr George Foulkes
Minister of State, Scottish Office, Minister of State (Scotland Office)
My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary is being far too kind to the hon. Member for Spelthorne, and my hon. Friend the Member for Stirling (Mrs. McGuire) and I think that he needs a rest.
David Wilshire
Conservative, Spelthorne
I need a rest?
Mr George Foulkes
Minister of State, Scottish Office, Minister of State (Scotland Office)
No, the Under-Secretary.
Amendment No. 119 is a technical amendment, relating to applications for more time to pay. It replicates amendment No. 36 to Clause 12, which the Committee has already agreed to. Amendment No. 119 removes doubt as to the procedures involved in handling applications for further time to pay. That will be of assistance to the courts.
Amendment No. 120 is consequential on amendment No. 119 and replicates amendment No. 37 to clause 13. It will ensure that defendants are not unfairly subjected to the payment of interest.
Mr Nick Hawkins
Conservative, Surrey Heath
I do not need to offer a lengthy response to the Minister's comments, as the amendments merely repeat Government amendments that have been made to equivalent earlier clauses.
However, I seek clarification with regard to Amendment No. 120. That is a pro-defendant amendment: as the Minister said, it ensures that the defendant is not unfairly prejudiced against. Is he satisfied that we ought to be so generous to defendants in Northern Ireland, given the special circumstances that exist there?
Mr George Foulkes
Minister of State, Scottish Office, Minister of State (Scotland Office)
If the defendant fails to pay the confiscation order in full before time to pay expires, the order automatically accrues interest at a fixed rate. That rate is currently 8 per cent., although it varies. The Amendment provides that, where the defendant applies for an extension of time to pay before a previous period expires, no interest accrues on the order, as long as the application is outstanding, or it is less than 12 months since the order was made, after which time no extension can be given in any case. That should apply to people in Northern Ireland in equal measure as it applies to people in Wales, Scotland and—even—England.
Amendment agreed to.
Clause 164, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.
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As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
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