Clause 5
Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill
3:45 pm
Andrew Selous (Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions; South West Bedfordshire, Conservative)
The clause deals with the provision of information and guidance, about which we have heard a lot this afternoon. The hon. Member for Angus said earlier that he did not think that it was appropriate for CMEC to provide some of the practical advice to parents on the issues of separation about which I have been talking. I responded that I agreed with him, and I told him that my hon. Friends and I had tabled amendments that would address that. That is what amendments Nos. 75 and 76 would do, in that they would change the phrases “provide to parents” to “ensure that parents are provided with” and “may provide information” to “may ensure that information is provided”. That is not semantics; I am not just playing grammatical games. I am making the point that, as the Minister just said, the important thing is that the information and guidance should be provided, not that it needs to be provided by CMEC. Indeed, in many cases, because of the reputation and record of the CSA, it may best not be provided by CMEC.
Amendment No. 17 would ensure a cross-governmental approach to the provision of advice, information and guidance. The Minister has just been talking about that and now has the chance to put his vote where his words were, so I hope that he will welcome the amendment warmly and I look forward to receiving his support. The amendment has the support of a number of bodies outside the House that are concerned to ensure that the range of issues that confront separating parents can be dealt with. I hope that the Minister will look favourably upon it.
It is my contention, as I have said several times this afternoon, that if there is back-up support and advice in respect of all the issues that separating parents find themselves dealing with, then it will be easier to accomplish agreement on issues to do with money. The Minister has told us many times that that is the prime and overriding objective of CMEC. That was the reasoning behind the amendments, and I look forward to hearing the comments of other hon. Members.