Re: Lord Hunt follows Jean Brown


Fletcher wrote:

My comments about that at the end of this dribble!

Child Maintenance
13 Dec 2006 : 3.31 pm
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, with the leave of the House, I shall now
repeat a Statement made in another place by my right honourable friend the
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. The Statement is as follows:

"Mr Speaker, with permission, I should like to make a Statement on the
future of the child maintenance system."The Child Support Agency was set up
to tackle a failing system of court-administered child maintenance. Despite
the best efforts of its staff, the CSA has, however, never properly
fulfilled its mission, and its failings have been obvious and apparent for
some time. "That is why earlier this year I asked Sir David Henshaw to
advise on a fundamental redesign of the child maintenance system. In July,
we accepted

13 Dec 2006 : Column 1526

the broad thrust of his recommendations for an entirely new approach. Today's
White Paper makes proposals in five key areas. First, we will remove the
barriers that prevent parents from reaching private settlements. Secondly,
we will create a simpler and more efficient system for assessing and
processing child maintenance liability. Thirdly, we will replace the
existing Child Support Agency with a new non-departmental public body-the
Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission. Fourthly, we will
significantly strengthen the enforcement regime. Finally, we intend to do
more to promote joint parental responsibility. "Let me take each of those
measures in turn. The new system of child maintenance will promote parental
responsibility and tackle child poverty. Too often, once parents break up,
the current system works against both. The requirement for parents with care
in receipt of benefits to use the CSA leads to the overturning of mutually
agreed maintenance arrangements and undermines parental responsibility.
Prioritising the recovery of benefit expenditure creates the incentive for
many non-resident parents to refuse to pay maintenance because their
payments go to the Government rather than their child. "Following
legislation, from 2008 we will remove the requirement that all parents with
care claiming benefit must use the child maintenance system. At the same
time, where maintenance is being paid, we will extend the £10 per week
benefit disregard to cases on the original scheme, helping around 55,000
children and 40,000 parents with care. And from 2010, when we expect a new
system of assessment to be in place, we will introduce a significantly
higher maintenance disregard for all benefit claimants, so that more
children benefit from the maintenance that parents pay. I believe these
changes will help encourage more parents to reach their own maintenance
agreements."I also believe that we can do much more to reduce the
bureaucracy of the assessment process. We will take new powers to make
fixed-term awards for child maintenance based on the latest tax-year
information, unless current income differs by at least 25 per cent. These
awards will last for a year. We will use gross income, rather than net. As a
result, only three pieces of information will be required to determine
maintenance liability: gross income; the number of qualifying children; and
the number of children living with the non-resident parent. The assessment
process will no longer be frustrated by a non-resident parent refusing to
give information on their earnings-we will have obtained it from HMRC.
"Changes to policy alone, however, are not enough. Sir David argued that the
existing Child Support Agency was not equipped to administer a new system.
He recommended a clean break with the past. We agree. A new non-departmental
public body, the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission or C-MEC, will
therefore be established. It will be led by a child maintenance
commissioner. C-MEC will have primary

13 Dec 2006 : Column 1527

responsibility for all aspects of operational policy and delivery,
overcoming one of the flaws inthe existing division of responsibilities. The
commission will be given extra powers to recover maintenance from those who
repeatedly fail to pay. These will include the imposition of curfews and
surrendering of passports, piloting mandatory withholding of wages as the
first means of collecting maintenance, and exploring with the financial
services sector new powers to collect maintenance from accounts held by
financial institutions. We will remove the requirement to apply to the
courts for a liability order before taking enforcement action. We will also
take powers to recover debt from deceased estates. "In future, I expect that
C-MEC will charge the non-resident parent for its services, and that we will
publicise the names of non-resident parents who are successfully prosecuted
or have a successful application made against them in court. "About 7 per
cent of births in the UK are registered solely to the mother, yet in around
half of these cases, mothers continue to have significant contact with the
father following the birth. The law currently automatically assumes that
married couples will be jointly registered, whereas unmarried parents have
to both agree before a father's name can appear on the birth certificate.
The CSA has to close one-tenth of cases simply because the father cannot be
traced."The Government have concluded that more should be done to promote
joint registration. Current legislation should be changed to require both
parents' names to be registered followingthe birth of their child, unless it
would be unreasonable to do so. We will consult in more detail on this issue
and legislate only once we are sure that robust safeguards can be put in
place to protect the welfare of children and vulnerable mothers. "I know
that two further issues will be of particular interest to many Members on
all sides of the House: first, the management of existing debt; and,
secondly, the transition to the new system."The CSA has accumulated around
£3.5 billion of debt. Approximately half is owed to parents with care. In
his report, Sir David suggested that the Government consider taking a power
to write off debt. I have decided against any general write-off power. I
believe that parents have a right to expect that the Child Support Agency,
and its successor body, will use every power available to recover this debt.
There are some limited cases where we will need to deal with completely
irrecoverable debt; for example, where the parent with care or the
non-resident parent is deceased, or where the parent with care has asked for
a cessation of recovery activity. In total, I do not expect these debts to
exceed £50 million."I agree with Sir David's suggestion that the CSA and its
successor body should be able to negotiate offers to settle debt, including
factoring debt. I want to make clear, however, that where the debt is owed
to the parent with care, any decision

13 Dec 2006 : Column 1528

to factor debt or accept less than the full amount will be taken only with
their full agreement. I also agree with Sir David's recommendation that we
take powers to manage down existing debts, and I intend to revalue punitive
interim maintenance assessments so they more realistically reflect a parent's
actual liability. I believe that this will provide a stronger basis for the
CSA, and its successor body, to chase down those debts and get money flowing
to parents with care. "Let me turn finally to the issue of transition.
Unrealistic expectations about moving from one system to the other have
blighted previous attempts to reform child maintenance. In moving to a new
system, we will need to strike a balance between providing a clean break for
C-MEC and ensuring that maintenance payments that are flowing well can
continue. "Following legislation later this Session, we aim to establish
C-MEC in 2008. It will prepare and procure for the new system of assessment
and delivery to be in place within two years. Existing cases will be able to
make private arrangements or, if they prefer, move to the new system over a
three-year period or take advantage of a simple cash-transfer service. This
cash-transfer service will, where both parents agree, minimise disruption by
continuing to move maintenance payments between parents based on their
current maintenance award. "The final details of the transition process will
be worked through by C-MEC but I am confident that the approach set out in
the White Paper will effectively balance the interests of existing and new
clients. This White Paper sets out a fundamental redesign of the system of
child maintenance. I am confident that it provides a proper foundation for a
much more effective and efficient system. It will realign policy in this
area with the reality on the ground. It will help to address child poverty
much more clearly. I commend this White Paper to the House".
My Lords, that concludes the Statement.

3.41 pm
Lord Skelmersdale: My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for repeating the
Statement made not so long ago in another place. I am most grateful, too,
for the short conversation that we had this morning. The noble Lord, Lord
Hunt, has not been responsible for the CSA for very long but already he has
been extremely active on its behalf-or, perhaps I should say, on behalf of
parents with care who are not receiving financial support for their children
from the absent parent.

Alas, all the trials, tribulations and reforms thatthe agency has been
through have not resolved the position of this failed organisation. We all
know about the disastrous record of the CSA, and recent DWP quarterly
reviews make sombre reading indeed. The most recent change has been the
outsourcing of the investigative powers of the CSA. This is far from enough.
I should be grateful, therefore, if the Minister

13 Dec 2006 : Column 1529

would tell me how successful that has been. I accept, of course, that it is
early days.

The new scheme has not proved to be workingany better than the original one,
and the initial administrative reforms suggested by Sir David Henshaw are
clearly insufficient to make much of a difference. Were the Home Secretary
suddenly to become the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, he would
surely say that the CSA was not fit for purpose. The Minister will doubtless
not use those words, but I agree that the only logical thing to do is to
scrap it and start again.

Certainly, the best solution of all is for the separated parents to come to
their own financial arrangements, so I agree that the new commission should
come into play only when that does not happen. The state will know that only
when it is told, so application by the parent with care is essential.

I understand that the White Paper proposes that the formula of 20, 15 and 10
per cent will remain in place, but the assessment will be made on last year's
gross income as recorded by Revenue and Customs. However, the problem
remains of extracting the relevant money. It is suggested that bank accounts
be accessed directly by the commission and/or that wages be withheld. I am
sure that there will be a strong reaction to that, as we will have to be
absolutely sure that the commission has made the right assessment in the
first place. The history of the CSA does not give me any confidence that
that will be so. Am I right that currently only the courts can authorise
such action?

Many of the parents with care are on state benefits, and I should like to
know how many there are in the current and expected caseload. As the average
payment is currently around the £22 level and the Minister told me this
morning that there is no disregard on old cases, that makes an enormous
difference to parents' income. I am therefore glad that this is to be
extended to them.

However, I am afraid that I cannot be so complimentary on the subject of
birth certificates. The noble Lord tells me that 7 per cent of parents do
not have both parents' names on the certificate. I do not think that many of
the 7 per cent will want to have the father's name on it and, anyway, what
help will that be? Absent parents move-perhaps to a different county, abroad
or wherever-and I should not have thought that a name alone would be of much
use in tracking them down. When-referring directly to the Statement-would it
be "unreasonable" for both parents not to have their names on a birth
certificate?

I have strong misgivings too about naming and shaming-a sort of parental
ASBO. I am sure that "love rats", as the tabloids call them, would suffer
opprobrium for only a very short while and then the whole thing would be
forgotten by their friends and workmates. I also worry that it will not do
their employment prospects much good and so will be counterproductive. I
suspect too that it will harm the very people we are trying to
protect-namely the children-because it could lead to bullying in school.

13 Dec 2006 : Column 1530



The success of this new commission will rely heavily on the competence and
hence training of its staff. I agree that it is no use having a named case
officer if that officer is not available whenever the commission is open for
business. However, the use of teams to answer a client's questions depends
on everyone in the team knowing about that client's affairs. That can be
done only by the use of computers, and the CSA currently has a disastrous
record on computerisation, wasting millions of pounds, as we know. What
confidence can we have that this time it will be any better?

This Government pride themselves on joined-up government. What we have here
is a concerted effort to put pressure on absentee parents to contribute
financially to their children's care. At the same time, we hear that in
vitro fertilisation clinics will no longer need to consider a child's need
for a father. That is not what I call joined-up government. One or the other
must be wrong, and I plump for child maintenance being correct. That is what
this Statement and White Paper are all about. Barring a very few concerns, I
agree with it, not least because a successful commission will go some way to
reducing child poverty-the aim of all of us in this Parliament. However, the
bottom line is that unless we can have complete confidence in the original
maintenance assessment, nothing that C-MEC can do will solve the problem.

3.46 pm
Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay: My Lords, I thank the Minister for his
courtesy in giving us an advance copy of the Statement and in briefing me on
its contents this morning. Anything I am about to say is not a criticism of
him personally, as I believe that he has done his best in a very difficult
situation in recent months.

I do, however, disagree with the noble Lord,Lord Skelmersdale, and indeed I
disagree with my honourable friend David Laws in another place. I think that
naming and shaming does have a role to play in these matters. I would
encourage people to look at the following website:
http://pubs1.tso.parliament.uk. Those of you who are more computer literate
than I am will recognise that as the Houses of Parliament website. I want to
name six guilty men and one guilty woman on that website: Peter Lilley, 1993
to 1997; Harriet Harman, 1997 to 1998; Alistair Darling, 1998 to 2002;
Andrew Smith, 2002 to 2004; Alan Johnson, 2004 to 2005-one notices that it
speeds up towards the end; David Blunkett, 2005 only; and John Hutton, 2005
to date. Those are the Secretaries of State who have presided over one of
the most serious failures by any British Government to face up to a problem.
Over 14 long years they have failed millions of single mothers and their
children, many of them the most vulnerable in our society. There is no
excuse. They have put it off and not faced up to the problem year after year
after year. On this issue above all others, Ministers must carry the can.

New Labour loves talking about failing schools, failing hospitals and other
failing organisations. Well, if the CSA-Chaotic Shameful Appalling-is not a

13 Dec 2006 : Column 1531

failed organisation, I do not know what is. Why on earth has it taken 14
years to sort it out? Shifting the initials from CSA to C-MEC-the noble Lord
likes a hard "c", so he calls it "C-MEK"; I think a soft "c" would be more
appropriate, "C-MESS"-gives us absolutely no confidence that son of CSA, as
we call it, will be any better.

If, at last, there is a move towards closer co-operation with the Inland
Revenue, why on earth do the Government not go the whole hog and accept that
to do the job properly they should move the whole operation within HMRC?
That organisation knows better than anyone else what people earn and is
better able to collect the money. I do not see the point of talking about
fixed-term awards based on the latest tax year information, which is often
subject to frequent revision. If HMRC has the best information, put it
within that structure.

We do not disagree with the whole Statement. We agree with individual
points, particularly the one about not writing off debt in general-making
specific provision, if I can put it in those terms. But I am bound to say
that this has been an appalling story of mismanagement, and this is not the
answer.

3.50 pm
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, it is all too easy to say that it is a
failure of management and administration and it is all too easy to criticise
those who have done their best to improve the situation. I pay tribute to my
noble friend Lady Hollis, who has had to leave. She had responsibility for
the CSA for some years. She is one of a number of Ministers who have done
their very best to improve the condition of the CSA.

The Government's conclusion, which I am absolutely convinced is right, is
that essentially the CSA was almost designed to fail in the first place. A
couple of hours ago, I was interested to hearMr Alistair Burt speak in the
Commons. He was Minister for the CSA in 1993. He gave two reasons. The first
was retrospection-the fact that the CSA did not start with new clients on
day one, but was meant to capture all those on benefits who were due
maintenance. Secondly, the system was simply too sensitive; it was a charter
for delay. I believe that he is right. In essence, a system was created in
which too many people were forced to use the system against their will. If
one were on benefits, most, if not all, the money paid over in maintenance
was clawed back by the state, so there was no incentive on either side to
make the system work.

The fundamental change, and the answer to the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, on
why C-MEC will work, is that we are altering the dynamics so that there are
incentives to support parents who wish to do the right thing. We know that
it is much better that private arrangements are reached between two former
partners. If that is done, it is much more likely that resources will flow
from the non-resident parent to the parent with care. At the heart of the
matter, the only outcome that really counts is how to increase the amount of
money that flows to the children.



13 Dec 2006 : Column 1532



On HMRC, I believe that the approach that we are taking gives us the best of
both worlds. We have access to HMRC information, which means that there will
be far less delay and less dispute about the financial assessment of the
non-resident parent. The fact that there is a new organisation devoted to
dealing with those cases where private agreement has not been reached means
that there is a much better chance of ensuring that money flows.

The noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, supported the thrust of encouraging
private agreements, but he rightly asked about the operational improvement
plan, which is now in process. It is very importantthat we continue to
encourage the CSA to improveits performance as a foundation for the new
arrangements.

So far about £320,000 has been raised as a result of the use of private debt
collectors. That started only a couple of months ago, so it is too early to
give a definitive view. Around 10,000 cases have been transferred over. It
is also interesting that £400,000 has been raised through sending clients a
letter that essentially says that, unless they pay up within seven days,
their case will be referred to the private debt collector. This is the start
of a better and more systematic approach to dealing with debt.

The noble Lord asked about the caseload. My understanding is that roughly
half the caseload on the books of the CSA relates to parents with care on
benefits and half relates to private cases. I am happy to send him further
details. He is clearly right: extending the disregard to parents with care
on benefits under the old scheme will be a huge boost to about 40,000
parents and 50,000 children. Our aimis that, when new clients are accepted
by the commission around 2010, a significantly higher disregard will be
brought in at the same time, which will apply to all customers, whether they
are new customers or existing customers who are carrying on with the state
system.

We have a figure of 7 per cent of birth registrations where the father is
not named. In Australia, where naming is compulsory, the figure is 3.5 per
cent. We can learn from that. We will explore the issue of vulnerable
parents or parents with care who do not want the father named for one reason
or another. We will have to be careful to ensure that their position is
safeguarded, but the Australian position is clear and provides a good model.

I say to the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, that naming and shaming is not
to be considered in isolation. One of the big problems of the CSA over the
years has been a culture of non-compliance. We have to turn that round and
make it clear that the system is about rewarding, encouraging and
incentivising parents who, when they separate, do the right thing as far as
their children are concerned. Where they do not, or where the non-resident
parent is not prepared to pay, there has to be tough enforcement, of which
naming and shaming is but one aspect. It is essential that we change the
culture, and naming and shaming is an important element in doing that.



13 Dec 2006 : Column 1533



The noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, asked about taking revenue directly from
bank accounts. We will explore the scope of that with financial
institutions. We have opened up constructive discussions. As for placing
deduction from earnings orders far more quickly than is done at present, we
want to pilot that to see how it works. We will discuss that with business
interests as well. That is all part of a much more streamlined approach to
assessment of the financial contribution, followed by much quicker
enforcement if the non-resident parent is not paying.

Finally, the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, could not resist asking me about
the IT system. He will know that it has had a troubled history, but a few
months ago the contract was reassigned with a£65 million saving to the
Department for Work and Pensions. There is a programme of fixes going on. I
would not stand here and pretend that the system is performing as it was
hoped it would when it was brought in, but it is gradually improving. That
is important, because I want to end by paying tribute to the staff of the
CSA. It is not their fault that the system has proved to be so difficult.
They have done a good job in difficult circumstances, including the IT
system. I pay tribute to them for their efforts.

3.59 pm
Lord Soley: My Lords, I welcome the greater emphasis on the voluntary
arrangement, which is always better than the state trying to come to a
conclusion with parents. Will my noble friend look at the small number of
cases where a voluntary agreement cannot be made and the court makes an
agreement, but where one-usually the absent-parent will not pay anything
because they believe, rightly or wrongly, or with good or bad reason, that
the money will not be used for the children? I have argued for some time
that, in that small number of cases, there is a case for putting some of the
money into child trust funds or baby bonds. It is then much more difficult
for the absent parent to claim that the money is not for the benefit of the
children. I am not talking about a large number of people, but these are
often some of the most difficult cases. That would give the degree of
flexibility which we are looking for and which reflects, I think, the
general approach on what was previously an inflexible and undesirable
system.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, my noble friend makes an interesting
suggestion. He certainly identifies some of the ever-present tensions
between the parent with care and the non-resident parent. However, the kind
of area that he mentions is probably more relevant to a voluntary agreement.
The advice and guidance that must be developed to encourage parents down the
private agreement route need to be taken into account. Once it is clear that
an agreement has not been reached and the parent with care approaches C-MEC,
it will have to apply the formula as set out in legislation. The incentives
to encourage private agreements, however, may allow for some recognition of
the factors that he has raised.



13 Dec 2006 : Column 1534



The Lord Bishop of Worcester: My Lords, I welcome the Statement. Any
assessment of it must begin from a real recognition that intervention by the
state in situations of personal tragedy is always a no-win situation.
Whatever the faults of the system may have been, and however remediable they
turn out to be, we must recognise that and speak accordingly.

My question is in that vein. It is clear from the Statement that a much more
supportive approach will be taken in what the Minister correctly describes
as a culture shift. I imagine that nearly everybody here will have had
dealings with somebody who has been involved with the CSA. I am concerned
about the level of trust on the part of people who have had that experience.
Difficult as it is to see an alternative, I am worried that if we have three
to four more years of the present arrangements-under which most people think
that the CSA is a kind of branch of the state police designed to raise money
for the state, whether that is intended or not-it will not be easy to enable
people to believe that the new system is different. What efforts will be put
into that? Granted, there is the essential back-up of sanctions, but the
primary aim is the well-being of children, particularly those who have
suffered threats to their well-being. Does the Minister want to say anything
about the efforts that will be made not just to change the culture, but to
enable those affected to believe that the culture has been changed?

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, the right reverend Prelate raises an
important consideration. I will make two points. Although the new commission
will not be able to accept new clients under the new assessment until the
financial year 2010-11, we expect the commissioner to be established in
shadow form-subject to legislative progress-in 2007 and the commission to be
formally constituted and up and running in 2008. Again, subject to
legislative progress, compulsion will be removed towards the end of 2008,
and the £10 disregard will be applied to all parents with care on benefits
under the old system. So although new clients will be accepted by the new
commission in 2010, parents with care and non-resident parents will see
progress at a fairly early stage.

Secondly, I agree with the right reverend Prelate about the level of trust.
If this is going to work, we must ensure that the advice and information
available to parents when they separate are well considered and enhance
their trust. I refer the right reverend Prelate to paragraph 26 of Chapter 2
of the White Paper, about the need for us to ensure a co-ordinated approach
with the DCA and DfES on post-separation counselling and advice. All the
evidence is that, when parents separate, it has historically been very
difficult for them to get proper, co-ordinated advice. Services provided
need to be seen to be neutral and independent. We shall be piloting
information and advice services and the third sector will have a major role
to play. I pay tribute to organisations such as One Parent Families, SCOOP
Aid in Sheffield, Parentline Plus, Relate and Parenting Across Scotland. I
am sure that the more we can embrace

13 Dec 2006 : Column 1535

and work with those organisations in giving that advice and information, the
more trust people will have in the approach we are taking.

Lord Northbourne: My Lords, I welcome in particular the Government's
emphasis on promoting joint parenting responsibility. Perhaps I may build a
little on the point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Soley. It is all very
well to talk about joint responsibility, but if the absent parent is forced
to pay over the money and has absolutely no control over the way in which
the money is used, how can he exercise his responsibility?

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, it is a difficult question. Some of the
comments made to me over the past few months suggest that you should
establish a direct relationship between the paying of maintenance and
contact with children. Clearly, the issue is a source of great tension. The
parent with care controls contact access; the non-resident parent controls
the money. However, we have to be very wary of using the children as a kind
of football in such a situation. It is the role of government to encourage
contact wherever possible, except in a few cases where the child may be at
risk. But you cannot have a direct relationship between contact and the
paying of maintenance. There has to be a concerted approach. I say again
that the voluntary approach must be the right one. If you can encourage
parents to resolve the issues of maintenance, there is far more likely to be
fertile ground for a reasonable discussion about contact.

On the point raised by the right reverend Prelate, it is difficult for the
state to intervene in these issues. These matters are far better sorted out
by adults with help, but with the backstop that, where things are not
working, for the sake of the children there must then be efficient and tough
intervention by the state on behalf of those children.

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: My Lords, as one who, together with the late Lord
Russell and Lord Houghton of Sowerby, spent days and nights opposing the
original scheme, I say with the utmost regret that those of us who are still
here feel vindicated in our opposition to what we believed would be a bad
system. I should have preferred it to have worked and for me to have been
wrong. I hope that the proposed system will work; I think that perhaps it
can. However, I believe that some of the measures are extreme.

I wish to ask two questions. The first relates to the compulsory access to
bank accounts and the removal of driving licences and passports without
reference to the courts. With regard to bypassing the courts, particularly
in relation to driving licences and passports, which may be necessary to
continue work to pay the maintenance, I believe that those measures should
be undertaken only through the judicial system. I hope that the Government
will rethink the issue.

The second question relates to paternity being placed on birth certificates.
I find that issue most difficult. Some, perhaps many, women do not know

13 Dec 2006 : Column 1536

who the father is. They have so many relationships that they may not know
the name of the father of the child. As has been mentioned, there may be
reasons why she will not want to name the father, and I do not believe that
she should be forced to do so. Will there be a method of appeal? Will a man
who is namedas the father of a child-which has a lot of implications-have
the right of appeal and, if so, to which body will he be able to appeal?

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, who
resisted saying, "I told you so", albeit in a very light way. He has raised
some important questions. That is the purpose of the White Paper, and we
will be interested in hearing views. At the moment, 7 per cent of birth
certificates do not name the child's father, but research indicates that
half those fathers have continuing contact with the mother at the time of
the child's birth. Our view is that if those fathers are named on birth
certificates, that is recognition of their responsibility, and if that
responsibility is recognised, it is much more likely that the father will
pay maintenance if he separates from the mother.

I understand the noble Lord's concerns about women who may not know the name
of the father or who for some good reason would not wish to name him-for
example, in cases of rape. I recommend that the noble Lord looks at the
Australian system,where naming is compulsory but where it is very
straightforward for a woman to plead good cause. However, in Australia, the
figure is only 3.5 per cent, and the Australians have probably the best
system of child support in the world. We will look very carefully at the
points that the noble Lord raised.

The noble Lord asked about the administrative process in relation to
enforcement, including driving licences and other documents. If we are going
to make private arrangements work by giving them every encouragement,
including the incentive of a higher disregard so that more money goes to the
children, the balance is that the new C-MEC has a tough process to make sure
that money flows to the children. At the moment, we know that taking
enforcement action can have a positive impact on making the non-resident
parent pay. The sooner action can be taken-assessments made and enforcement
action taken when payments are not being made-the better the money will
flow. That is the great advantage of an administrative process. I fully
accept that there will have to be safeguards but, to make child maintenance
flow, it is necessary to act quickly in assessment and enforcement.

Lord Young of Norwood Green: My Lords, I welcome the Statement. The
Government have the general direction right. We want to see the
encouragement of private initiatives and the higher disregard, which are
good incentives. However, if we are talking about changing the culture, as
the Minister said, surely that is about the balance of rights and
responsibilities. There are parents who choose to evade their
responsibilities; they disappear and resist attempts to contact them. We
have to

13 Dec 2006 : Column 1537

recognise that. While I do not believe that naming and shaming people who
seem to have little shame about their parental responsibilities will
necessarily work, it may help for them to be contacted; on balance, that
approach is probably right. The compulsory actions are a necessary part of
that. They are the balancing act. The first, positive side is to encourage
private arrangements and to try to ensure that both parents acknowledge
their joint responsibility. So, by and large the Government have got it
right, and I welcome the assurances on safeguards regarding birth
certificates. My question is about the role of the Inland Revenue, which
should probably have been utilised better in the past. Will it have the
resources and staffing to deal with these extra responsibilities? If it does
not, we shall see an unfortunate failure in that regard.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, my noble friend is absolutely right
about enforcement. Unfortunately, a culture has grown up among a significant
proportion of non-resident parents in which it is acceptable to evade
responsibility for paying maintenance for their children. That is absolutely
wrong and we cannot condone it, so enforcement has to be tough because we
have to change that culture. Changing the culture will make it possible for
private agreements to take place, which is then a much better foundation on
which other issues linked to relationship breakdown can be dealt with, as
the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, suggested.

As far as HMRC is concerned, we have had some very helpful discussions with
it, and I am glad to pay tribute to officials there for their work. We are
confident that we can manage the administration involved. There is no
question but that having access to tax information in order to make
assessments will make the management of future cases much more
straightforward.

---

""WELL THANK *** HE'S GONE!""
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Well Fletcher~ I am sure that, given your circumstances you will
struggle to find anything other than DRIBBLE from the above.

Then again not everybody thinks we should all 'go on the dole' so the
CSA cant take money off us to pay for our kids.

.