Clause 2
Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill
2:00 pm
Paul Rowen (Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions; Rochdale, Liberal Democrat)
I understand what the hon. Gentleman says, but the amendment states that
“the Commission shall have regard to the welfare of any children.”
Most hon. Members will accept that child poverty has been one of the key factors affecting the welfare of many of the children concerned, and that is a direct result of the CSA’s failure to ensure that maintenance payments are made. One can say that the causes are wider, but child poverty is clearly an issue and we need to deal with it. The Government have already missed their target of halving child poverty by 2010, and the most recent report on households below average income revealed once again that the number of children living in poverty has increased in the past 12 months.