The Draft Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill
Written ministerial statement
by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Baroness Ashton of Upholland
25 July 2006
I am pleased to announce today publication of the draft Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill. Copies of the draft Bill, Explanatory Notes and accompanying Regulatory Impact Assessments are being placed in the libraries of both Houses and on the DCA's website.
The main effects of the Bill are to:
- Create a new, simplified, statutory framework for tribunals to provide coherence and enable future reform;
- Unify the tribunals judiciary under a Senior President;
- Amend the existing threshold criteria for eligibility for appointment to judicial office in order to enable a wider range of applicants to apply;
- Unify the law relating to enforcement by seizure and sale of goods, including power of entry to premises;
- Allow creditors with claims in the civil courts to be able to enforce their judgments more effectively; and
- Introduce a package of measures to help those who are willing and able to pay off their debts over time and a new personal insolvency procedure for those who have fallen into debt but have no foreseeable way out of it.
The Government intends to introduce the Bill as soon as parliamentary time allows.
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