Bailiffs, Debt recovery agency,High Court Enforcement, AHCEO, High Court Enforcement Officers, the home of enforcement, Commercial debt recovery,CCJ'S, Find debtor and server debtor, Authorised High Court Enforcement.

The enforcement of a criminal penalty as opposed to the enforcement of a civil court judgment has little material difference. At the end of the day it all comes down to can the assets of the debtor be established and used to pay the debt.

Without any fanfare, the registration of High Court judgments is to become a reality - a little late - and at a time when judgments in the High Court are tiny in comparison to the volume of business in the County Court. I do need to highlight the figures - pre-Woolf, 8,979 judgments were registered in the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court whilst in 2004 only 750 judgments were registered. Still we are now on the brink of having High Court judgments finally registered.

As to the joined up approach, recent research indicated there were over 20 million pieces of paper outpouring from the criminal and civil courts which should keep those of us on the sharp end very busy for some time to come.

And I have to say I do like the new Operation Payback plan to collect more fines - a scheme which shows Government is thinking outside of the square. Texting debtors, and putting messages on beer mats to underline the need to pay the Court's fine is to be applauded.

A little crystal ball gazing might show a future of enforcement businesses, working with their own Professional Code of Conduct, to serve the needs of creditors, be they Government, Crown, or private sector, and playing to their individual strengths in the recovery of money, property, land, or other ancillary services, whilst at the same time balancing the rights of the debtor to ensure any enforcement action is fair but firm and within the law.

There is no time to procrastinate, the days of theorising about enforcement are done, and we are now in the period of delivering services. What we need to ensure is that the Government maintains its momentum in opening up the data that it holds to enable successful enforcement where possible, and to use proportionate enforcement where the assets of the debtor are negligible.

What is clear to all us involved in delivering services, is that building a quality, professional service comes at a cost which must be met. Government should take the lead on this by understanding that in its various guises, it is the largest user of enforcement services. Training and retaining a team of professional enforcement officers cannot be done "on the cheap". Officers must be motivated to collect the debt, and often carry out hazardous and strenuous work outside the confines of a 9 to 5 day to deliver a service which often is best done in anti-social hours.

Conversely the enforcement industry has to continue to invest to develop and maintain professional standards, work with stakeholders to deliver levels of service for creditor and debtor alike, and develop enforcement into what it should become - a true financial service, with thorough and robust regulation, which serves the justice system and upholds the rule of law.