Clause 8
Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill
12:30 pm
James Plaskitt (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions; Warwick and Leamington, Labour)
The amendment moved by the hon. Member for Daventry would restrict the commission before it is even set up and running. He is trying to chip away at the range of options that is available to it. I resist his amendment because it begins to gnaw at the basic principle of moving to a commissioning arrangement. However, I hope that I can reassure him that the necessary safeguards are in place to prevent abusive use of the powers that he is talking about.
All the safeguards that would apply to CMEC, if it were doing any of the relevant things, will apply in the same way to any other contracted party carrying out functions on an agency’s behalf. I did not hear the hon. Gentleman object to any of the safeguards in place in respect of CMEC, so I am not sure why he does not understand that those also apply to anybody contracted with CMEC to carry out functions. Exactly the same safeguards and rights of appeal are in place as would be if the commission were carrying out a function.