Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill [HL]

Before the noble Lord withdraws his amendment, I should like to widen the question. If the information is so narrow, why is the clause drawn so widely? Under Clause 89(3)(e), the process could be widened to any government department. One could ask the court to look at any records that might be available in any government department regarding where the assets might be. Where the debtor in question has buried their crock of gold is likely to be known to the Government one way or another. If the debtor has property, they may well have obtained grants on it. The Government have all sorts of information that might help them obtain a debtor’s assets. As it is drawn, Clause 89 is not capable of expansion to anything beyond the limited purposes the Minister has described. If it is limited in the way she has explained, I do not have a problem with it—but I do not see the limitation in that clause. Nor do I understand the direction of Clause 90: who are these other people, what information will be asked of them and what will happen to them if they do not give it? This is so widely and loosely drawn, at least to my eyes, that I cannot see where it stops. The Minister is very helpful in saying that it will be used only to find their employer, but why should Clauses 89 and 90 not be used much more widely? And what is Clause 90 for at all?