Welfare Reform Bill
4:47 pm
Fiona Weir: The first thing to say is that after all these years of trying to enforce better child maintenance systems, we still have a situation in which only one in three parents are receiving maintenance for their children, which is little short of scandalous and leads to a number of children remaining in poverty. The estimates show that if all the non-resident parents who were currently assessed as required to pay actually paid up, it would lift another 100,000 children out of poverty. It is important to understand the vital importance of stepping up enforcement.
Having said that, and while we are strongly supportive of giving CMEC a lot more enforcement powers, it will be extremely important for the Committee to examine very carefully how the administrative changes would work. It will require very scrupulous measures to examine the issue of wilful and culpable neglect by the non-resident parent and it will be necessary to be really sure about the transparency of the appeals process so that the non-resident parent affected has proper warning and opportunity to appeal against the decision should they wish to do so. The reason that is so important is not just because of the obvious issues of fairness and so on; if there is a backlash, a sense of unfairness, it will be counter-productive as we step up the enforcement powers. It is important that we do not create a sense of there being martyrs when the problem that we are trying to tackle is that of people who are not contributing to their child’s upbringing. Being sensitive to the need to get that right is important for the Committee as it looks at the fine detail.
It is also important to consider some other things. The evidence shows that where it is safe, it is in the interests of children for both parents to engage. If a non-resident parent needs their car to see their child, it is important that you do not take away their driving licence. Getting that kind of detail right is important. We also urge the Committee to look at extending the review period of 24 months that applies to the driving licences to the provisions for passports. The motivation behind the Bill is well driven and there is much that we are supportive of, but getting the details right is crucial.