Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill [Lords]

Absolutely. One of the issues is that the system was already confusing. We must make sure that at the end of the exercise, the citizen or resident knows their rights, and knows the sequences of the process. It needs to be as simple as possible. I agree with the Minister that the first step should be technical possession, with the property being left in the home. The next should be possession elsewhere, with the property being recoverable, for a reasonable period. The third would be disposal. In conclusion, part 4 deals with the enforcement of judgments and orders. From my days in the courts, I know that people who are asked to reveal their income when, for example, they are asked to pay child maintenance, often do not reveal the whole picture. Anyone who has heard people talk about their income in court knows that they may conceal the reality. The difficult enforcement of judgments and orders encompasses not just county court judgments but matrimonial payments, child maintenance payments and payments owed to Customs and to the Revenue. We need to better co-ordinate the different pieces of information on people’s financial circumstances held by the state. If someone appears in court and is asked how much they can afford to pay their ex-wife or ex-partner, how much they can pay to support the child of that relationship, or how much debt they can afford to pay off, all the information that the state holds on their circumstances should be made available to the court. I know for a fact that verbal statements are not always checked—they cannot be checked when the order is made—and further down the road other information appears on someone’s tax return, their benefit claim and so on. If we are to introduce a system to enforce judgments and orders, it must be based on the best information available. I resist the notion that the state should have any more information than it needs, but once someone appears in court, the court should have powers to obtain the information that it needs much more quickly. That information can be challenged by the individual if they think that it is wrong, but it provides the best foundation for enforcement, as it will be based on facts and is more likely to be credible. My hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) produced a report based on Government figures last year that drew attention to the fact—and this is a recurrent theme of his—that increasing numbers of people are incurring higher debts. Some 1.5 million people say that they have fallen behind with bills or credit commitments, according to the Financial Services Authority last year, and a third of them are in serious financial difficulties. The number of mortgage possession proceedings has gone up, as there are more than 100,000 a year. At least 20 per cent. of people with credit cards do not pay off the full amount every month, and repossessions, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, have increased to more than 10,000 a year. Given that we have a debt-fuelled society—that trend is bad and wrong, and we should reverse it—we must be much more careful to put protection in place so that people are not doubly penalised by huge charges and inappropriate interventions in their lives and homes. The Bill is an extremely important piece of legislation, and we must get it right. I hope that we can persuade the Minister that the best way to proceed is by introducing regulation that puts everything in one piece of legislation. We should wait for the outcome of the consultation on the regulation of the industry, and implement it with whatever measure is necessary to secure maximum agreement. It is better to take a little more time and get it right than rush and make mistakes that could lead to the sad, wrong and potentially fatal risk of citizens’ freedoms being impaired.