Climate Change Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 219: 219: Schedule 5, page 65, line 11, at end insert— ““( ) The regulations may in particular provide— (a) for appeals against determinations or any failure to make a determination, (b) for the appointment of persons or bodies to hear appeals, and (c) for charges to be recoverable, if a county court so orders, as if they were payable under a county court order.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, even though charges under a waste reduction scheme are likely to be relatively small, it is important that local authorities have the tools to collect them where people fail to pay. That is why I am bringing forward government Amendment No. 219; it would allow the Secretary of State to make regulations allowing authorities to collect charges owed more efficiently, through the county court system. This is an accepted, standard approach that has been used many times over. Some useful comparisons include the Traffic Management Act 2004, the Social Security Administration Act 1992, the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 and the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003. If the Secretary of State were to exercise this power, Amendment No. 219 would allow the local authority, having followed a fair and appropriate appeals process, to collect the debt by registering the outstanding waste charge with the county court as if it were a court order. Standard county court enforcement mechanisms, such as attachment of earnings orders, could then be used. Without this amendment, the local authority would first have to commence a new claim in the county court and obtain a county court judgment before it could enforce the debt. The amendment therefore allows an authority to use a fair but more efficient debt collection process, thereby saving time and money for authorities and taxpayers. This is a considered approach. While removing unnecessary duplication of work, it still ensures that residents have ample opportunity to appeal if they do not think that they should be paying the charge for whatever reason. Paragraph 9 of Schedule 2AA already requires waste-reduction schemes to have an appeals process in place and we intend to provide further best-practice guidance to local authorities on this aspect. This is a key requirement. That is why we are also proposing, via Amendment No. 219, to make it clear that regulations made by the Secretary of State under the schedule may include provision concerning appeals against determinations or any failure to make a determination, and for the appointment of persons or bodies to hear appeals. This reinforces the seriousness that we attach to making sure that the right systems are in place. In particular, if in future, following pilots and any decision to roll out, there is widespread take-up of waste reduction schemes, it may make sense to set up an appeals body to deal specifically with appeals by residents against their waste charges and rebates. I beg to move.