Clause 3
Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill
3:15 pm
Paul Rowen (Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions; Rochdale, Liberal Democrat)
As a member of the Public Administration Committee, we discussed such matters this morning. We agreed on behalf of all parties to write to all hon. Members to request that they look clearly at the issue, as the debate demonstrated yesterday, and at the principle that people have not been given proper redress. It is important that, as a fresh start, we set out what will happen. If something goes wrong, we will make it clear to the commissioners what we expect them to do. Parents and children have a clear right to expect that.
We are having a fresh start. We do not want to go back to the mess that has existed with the CSA. I hope that the Minister will reassure us and, if he is not willing to accept the amendment, that he will introduce regulations that set out the position clearly. He will have to do that anyway, because CMEC will not be part of the Department for Work and Pensions, so in a sense the maladministration guide should not apply. We need a clear statement from him, as do parents, about how maladministration will be dealt with.