§ Mr. ColmanTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when the amendments set out in section 13 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 allowing wider use of Administration Orders at county court level to resolve cases of debt without recourse to bankruptcy will be implemented. [118426]
§ Mr. LammyThe Government have concluded that section 13 will not be implemented in its current form, due to concerns over its feasibility. While some aspects of section 13, such as the three year time limit on orders, are welcome in that they would provide certainty for both debtors and creditors, its implementation would remove the current parameters to the scheme while not providing any safeguards, such as the opportunity to deal with physical assets and investigation into misconduct. The Government are consequently considering a wide range of options for reform in this area and will publish a paper on options for change later in the year. In the meantime, I refer my right hon. Friend to the White Paper "Effective Enforcement" issued by my Department in March 2003 for further details.