Clause 5 - Compensation for financial loss
Children and Adoption Bill [Lords]
3:15 pm
Stewart Jackson (Peterborough, Conservative)
These amendments are important because of the use of the word “significant”. Before I go on to the detail, I should once again like to make the point about the paramountcy principle not being explicit. It bears repetition because that is not clear in clauses 4 and 5.
We must keep the issue in perspective. Inserting the word significant here might not seem very important in the context of the whole Bill, but we should not exacerbate a difficult situation. As the Bill stands, it has the potential to make matters a lot worse for families who are at war with each other, and going to court over compensation for loss. It is not our job to legislate to encourage such situations to become even more protracted and vexatious than they already are. The word “significant” is important because we do not want families to quarrel about how much money was spent at McDonald’s, how much each party spends on petrol, and so on. That is why we need to set the correct context, and that is why we are proposing the amendment. It is a sensible and helpful amendment, which will save a lot of angst, time and public money although, possibly, it will not be all that popular with our friends the lawyers.
The Government have missed an opportunity in respect of the concept of compensatory contact. Why should we be fixated on financial compensation? That is not an issue on which most parents who have separated or divorced focus, although it is important. What people focus on is the quality of parenting that they can give their children, and that is not taken into account in the Bill. That offends against the general consensus that we have established on the paramountcy principle. It is all about the financial arrangements between the parents and the court, and not about the children. That should be borne in mind.
As the Bill stands, it has the potential to allow for obfuscation and for delay in the resolution of situations. That is why we think that the amendment has merit and should be considered carefully by the Minister.