New Clause 7
Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill
4:00 pm

Paul Rowen (Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions; Rochdale, Liberal Democrat)

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

The new clause is a probing clause, and we are seeking information from the Minister about private arrangements and, in particular, on how the new scheme will work, once it is in place. I am sure that the Minister will argue that the Government have already carried out research—for example, the indicators of future choices survey—that shows that they were correct in their estimate of the number of people who were going to move to private arrangements. However, I want to point out to the Minister that the survey was conducted with current users of the CSA to find out what they would do when CMEC comes into being—whether they will register with CMEC on the new maintenance agreement, whether they will register on the old agreement or whether they will leave the system altogether. We feel that ongoing research is needed to examine what people actually do once the commission is established.

As we have discussed, the big group at risk is those who do not enter the system at all. There will therefore be no reason for anybody to keep track of them, and a large proportion of them may well be parents on benefits who would previously have automatically enrolled before the repeal in this Bill of section 6 of the Child Support Act 1991. In particular, we want the research to focus on how many people have no maintenance arrangements in place, especially as the purpose of the Bill is to maximise the number of children for whom an effective maintenance agreement is in place. I am sure that the Minister will agree that we all want to tackle child poverty, and if we can encourage voluntary arrangements that work and ensure that parents pay their fair whack, it will help to do that. We feel that we need some sort of research to keep track of that and to ensure that some of the concerns that we have raised do not fall through a crack.

We know about the advice and information services that the commission will provide, which might be contracted out or handed over to the private and voluntary sectors. It is important for them to have an opportunity to feed back to the Government on their experiences and the people whom they see daily. Are such people going through voluntary agreements? If they are not following through those agreements, why not? What action might the Government need to take? The matter will probably not need legislation, but it might mean that the contracting out arrangements for support need to go further than the Government have envisaged.

Although the Minister may not agree with the new clause, I hope that he can assure us that some such review will be carried out and reported to the Select Committee. The private arrangement aspect of the Bill is its most novel feature, and it is the cornerstone of its success. It is not necessarily those who are in the system who are of concern, but those who move into those  arrangements and might not enter into any private arrangements. If they do not enter into a private arrangement, we need to know why.

James Plaskitt (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions; Warwick and Leamington, Labour)

I appreciate the hon. Member for Rochdale tabling the new clause and discussing it in the way in which he did. He is right to point out that we all have a concern in seeing how the new system unfolds and ensuring that it meets the objectives that we have set for it. I remind him that the commission is required to produce an annual report of all its activities, which will always be an opportunity for hon. Members and Parliament to review its progress. It is open to the Select Committee to inquire at any time into how the new arrangements are going, but that is a matter for the Committee, not me. However, I am certain that I want to follow progress.

The hon. Gentleman is also right that the changes are big changes, especially those to the voluntary arrangements, which is another reason why it is important to take time over the transition. We need to spread knowledge about the changes and make sure that all the other organisations and bodies that are engaged with people going through the separation process become aware of the support services, which will be very important, and the move towards the far higher disregards, which will completely change the incentive for parents with care to seek arrangements under the new system.

I assure the hon. Gentleman and others in Committee that we are fully committed to ensuring that a full and comprehensive research programme is conducted to consider all the issues that he has raised, and others. Indeed, research has already told us a significant amount about all those areas, and it has helped us with the decisions that we have been making about the design and implementation of the information and support service.

As I have said, it is important not to rush research, and I am sceptical about the value of linking research programmes to legislation in the direct way set out in the new clause. I reassure the hon. Gentleman that we are committed to publishing the findings of our research as soon as they are available. In the area covered by his new clause, for example, we have published independent research on the attitudes of parents towards the reforms, and we have conducted a telephone survey of a significant proportion of the current agency case load, asking about the choices that people are likely to make once they can transfer to the new arrangements.

The latter research showed that a significant proportion of CSA new scheme parents with care on benefits—almost two in five—would be likely to consider going for a voluntary arrangement, supported by the services that we plan to introduce. Unsurprisingly, the research also highlighted that there are advantages and disadvantages to voluntary arrangements and that they are not suitable for everyone. Where a voluntary arrangement is not preferred by parents, they will, of course, be supported by the statutory maintenance service.

The relationship and separation survey is also due to be published early next year. It will build on the  evidence provided by the telephone survey through face-to-face interviews with around 2,500 parents who have voluntary arrangements or arrangements through the CSA or the courts. I hope that I can reassure the hon. Gentleman that we will continue to conduct and publish research to ensure that the new maintenance system is as effective as possible, and to evaluate its success. There will be abundant opportunities for Parliament to monitor and assess performance through various processes as we move into the new arrangements. I hope that that is sufficient to reassure the hon. Gentleman and that he will withdraw the motion.

Paul Rowen (Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions; Rochdale, Liberal Democrat)

In view of the Minister’s reassurances, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion.