Clause 50
Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill
12:30 pm
James Plaskitt (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions; Warwick and Leamington, Labour)
I thank the hon. Gentleman for moving his amendment. Let me say, however, that this has been one of the most consulted-on Bills of recent years. I accept what he says about the need to consult. He asked who has been consulted. Before the Bill went through pre-legislative scrutiny in the Select Committee on Work and Pensions, a list was published of all the organisations that the Department had engaged in the consultation process, and, before that, those consulted by David Henshaw’s inquiry, which also consulted extensively.
Given the Bill’s history and the route that we have taken to reach the proposals before us, I think that I can reassure the hon. Gentleman that there has been extensive consultation, and that consultation is by no means finished. It will not be endless and for ever, as he rightly said, but as CMEC comes into being and takes its early decisions, it will still consult major stakeholders, such as One Parent Families, Families Need Fathers, Resolution and the Child Poverty Action Group. Many other organisations have, however, been heavily engaged with us in the consultation process.
The hon. Gentleman is therefore right to stress the importance of consultation. I can assure him not only that there has been a lot of it, but that it is ongoing. However, there is no case for including a requirement to consult in the Bill, and I hope that he will agree to withdraw the amendment.