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Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill

I listened carefully, as always, to the Minister. I welcome the fact that the CSA's accounts have been laid before Parliament, but if they had come out on Friday we would have had a little more time to look through them. I listened carefully to what the Minister said about new clause 3. May I reiterate what I said to the hon. Member for Angus (Mr. Weir) and others? I have no problem at all with authorities using the powers in the Bill, with the permission of the parents with care, to write off debt that is uncollectable and should probably never have been accumulated in the first place. That is common ground, but I remind the Minister that we have a long history of getting this wrong, and the failure to collect debt has undermined the CSA's work in the past, and will undermine CMEC's work in future. It will not help that fundamental change of culture that we want—the willingness to pay child support—which will be a key component of CMEC's success. Turning to new clause 7, the CSA had a troubled history, and this is Parliament's third attempt to get that incredibly important area of law right. Hon. Members play an important role, and they should be forced to take an interest in what CMEC does. Many of us were not entirely happy with the decision to set up CMEC as a non-departmental body, and we failed to see why it should not become an executive agency of the Department for Work and Pensions. It is even more important, given that it is to become a non-departmental body, that Parliament should have the role of scrutinising its plans in future. Should the hon. Member for Rochdale (Paul Rowen) wish to press new clause 7 to a vote at the appropriate time we would support him, and I shall now press new clause 3 to a vote. Question put, That the clause be read a Second time:— The House divided: Ayes 184, Noes 262.