Member

Let me take this in stages. The DWP at the moment can apply to the court for a third-party debt order in England and Wales. This would allow lump sum recovery directly from a debtor’s bank account. The rationale for introducing the DDO, as she observed, is to recover more public money without unnecessarily using the court’s time—which, as the noble Viscount pointed out, is at a premium—and without subjecting debtors to court proceedings at greater cost to them. Comparable powers are already used by HMRC and the Child Maintenance Service. There are sufficient existing safeguards and specific new safeguards introduced by the Bill which give significant protection to individuals. I hope they will help to alleviate the noble Baroness’s concerns.