Clause 15
Child Maintenance and Other Payments
11:30 am
Andrew Selous (Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions; South West Bedfordshire, Conservative)
I am a little surprised by the Minister’s comment that those people would have no relationship with the child. I am not particularly suggesting that this category of professional might be one who would instigate this. For example, an educational welfare officer might be intimately involved with a family and visit them at home because the child is not turning up at school. They might find that the reason why the child is not turning up is a matter of finance, due to deep poverty within the home. There are many professionals of the state—employees of central and local government—whose job it is to have an intimate relationship with that family and keep the welfare of the children at heart.