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Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill

moved Amendment No. 108: 108: Clause 19, page 8, line 27, leave out ““magistrates’ court (or, in Scotland, to the sheriff)”” and insert ““tribunal”” The noble Lord said: I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 109, 110, 165, 168, 169 and 173. These are all probing amendments, pure and simple. As I said just now, we must be satisfied that the appropriate legal place is used for each of these sanctions, whether in the case of the original application or, in the case of these amendments, in the right of appeal. They change the place to which a person may have a right of appeal from a magistrates’ court or a sheriff’s court in Scotland to a tribunal. The latter is a panel of much narrower judicial scope and typically has a specific remit. It can make more informed and sensitive decisions when dealing with fragile child support negotiations and demands. The tribunal also provides an important benefit in that it creates an alternative route from that of the magistrates’ court and thus prevents everyone with a grievance clogging up that court system. I do not know whether the Minister has had complaints about that recently, but certainly complaints are made to us quite regularly that the magistrates’ courts are overstretched. We must be absolutely certain that their use is appropriate in every case when we consider the various sanctions and mechanisms for sanctions in the Bill. I beg to move.