Schedule 1
Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill
10:00 am
Paul Rowen (Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions; Rochdale, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move amendment No. 66, in schedule 1, page 46, line 36, at end insert—
‘(3) The Commission is to be responsible for ensuring that appropriate staffing levels are maintained in order for it to fulfil its functions as determined in section 2 of this Act.’.
The amendment seeks to make it clear that the commission is responsible for ensuring that there are appropriate staffing levels and that they are maintained so that it can fulfil its functions as determined in clause 2. I am sure that hon. Members will appreciate from the evidence that we had on Tuesday just how important it is that there is no reduction in staff numbers until it is certain that CMEC is functioning at the required standard. Given the administrative problems of the CSA in the past, its current reputation and the need to ensure a clean break, as recommended by Sir David Henshaw’s review, it is important to state now while we are dealing with CMEC that there will be appropriate staffing levels to enable it to carry out its job.
Current plans are that by 2008, over an 18-month period, there is likely to be a staff reduction of 20 per cent. Approximately 2,000 staff will deal with all cases, both historic and new. We heard from the Ministers on Tuesday that those staff cuts are based on an assumption—it is at this stage only an assumption—that a significant number of parents will choose to make voluntary arrangements rather than use the statutory scheme. As we heard in the evidence from the lady from One Parent Families, that cannot be guaranteed at this stage. It is therefore vital that we do not rush headlong into making cuts that may well render the organisation as useless and unfit for purpose as the CSA.
The significant increase in parents using the voluntary routes is partly based on the repeal of section 6 of the Child Support Act 1991. That ensures that parents with care who receive benefit will no longer mandatorily have to use the CSA. In the regulatory impact assessment the Government have estimated that that move will reduce the case load of the statutory scheme from 130,000 to 100,000 calculations each year. They have made assumptions also about the efficacy of the proposed child maintenance information and support services, on which, so far, we have had very little detailed information. I have serious concerns, therefore, in advance of the establishment of CMEC, about arrangements and staff cuts that could render the organisation problematic.
During questioning on Tuesday, we heard about some of the arrangements that the CSA is trying to make to ensure that although a constituent does not get an individual case officer, some 30 or so officers will, at least, be available. However, what will happen if, over that 18-month period, staff numbers are thinned out? That will make things very difficult.