Clause 5
Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill
3:45 pm
Paul Rowen (Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions; Rochdale, Liberal Democrat)
The clause is one of the most significant and important parts of the Bill, because much of what it seeks to do is new. As was seen in the evidence sessions on Tuesday, a range of information and guidance is going to be provided by web-based, telephone and face-to-face methods. I hope that that will go a long way towards ensuring that CMEC gets off to a good start.
The difficulty is that the clause is vague. The amendments, particularly amendment No. 17 and our similar amendment No. 35, would put flesh on the bones of the clause so that it would contain definite information as to who or what will be responsible. As the Minister said, the issues will affect more than just one Department; it is a cross-departmental responsibility, so it is important to make it clear in the Bill that the relevant Departments will have to understand their responsibilities to ensure that whatever range of providers is set up, the people involved will have the information and will know where to go.
One of the things that can bedevil a new law is a lack of cross-departmental support. By setting up a skeleton explanation of how that information and guidance will be produced and who will be responsible for it, we can ensure that CMEC delivers a step change from what has happened with current arrangements through the CSA.