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Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time. Since its inception in 1993, the Child Support Agency has had a troubled history. There was broad consent that it should be established because the previous court-based system was not delivering. However, problems with the design and processes of the agency became increasingly apparent through the early years of its operation. Changes designed to overcome some of the problems were implemented in 2003. They were a step towards simplification of the system, not a fundamental change to the system itself. The problems continued. Some, it must be said, were down to the non-co-operation of some non-resident parents who would go to any lengths to avoid their responsibilities to their children. So while the agency adequately served many of its customers, it was offering an unacceptable level of service to too many. The Government therefore decided that the system had too many basic flaws. Further revision would not be sufficient; a clean break was needed. The Bill is a result of that decision. It makes far-reaching reforms to the way in which child maintenance is administered. It will lift many more children out of poverty. It will ensure that many more children receive the maintenance due to them. It will ensure that many more parents fulfil their obligations to their children. The Bill also introduces a new scheme to pay a lump sum to sufferers from mesothelioma, providing financial support to anyone diagnosed with this terrible disease. For the first time, people whose exposure to asbestos was not through work will be able to qualify for a payment. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the many individuals and organisations who have been so important in the development and passage of the Bill. I particularly thank Sir David Henshaw and his team for their initial report. I also thank the members of the Committee and our two Chairs, and all the Members who have taken part in our deliberations today. I have been encouraged throughout by the positive and constructive atmosphere in which the Bill has been debated throughout our proceedings. Hon. Members on both sides of the House have shown a good-natured determination to ensure that it really does provide the best possible solutions to two hugely important issues. I thank my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and the Minister with responsibility for disabled people, my hon. Friend the Member for Stirling (Mrs. McGuire), who led so ably on many of the clauses in Committee. Furthermore, I wish to put on record my appreciation of my honourable Friend from the other place, Lord McKenzie of Luton, who is responsible for child maintenance policy and for mesothelioma policy and has therefore played a key role in the development of the Bill. I thank the Bill team and all those in my Department who have worked so hard on the Bill. On behalf of all the Committee members, I thank the Committee Clerks, who assisted us so ably in our work. Above all, I should like to mention the staff of the Child Support Agency. Earlier, I briefly outlined the problems which have dogged the CSA since its inception. Those problems have not been, and are not now, the fault of the agency's staff. Indeed, the staff have made valiant efforts despite working with an imperfect concept and faulty systems. Along with ministerial colleagues, I have met many of our staff in the CSA, and we have all been struck by their dedication and fortitude and by their determination to be part of a successful child maintenance system. They feel strongly that they work on behalf of and in the interests of children, and that has driven them, as it still does, to overcome many difficulties. Throughout, they have remained loyal to their core task. The agency's operational improvement plan, launched in 2006 and supported by £120 million of additional investment, is clearly proving effective. Already, at the halfway point, we can see decisive improvements in processing times and diminishing backlogs. We can build on that as we move forward. However, as I said, the overall framework is not working. The agency has multiple objectives that distract its staff from focusing on key outcomes; it has customers who are there through compulsion rather than by choice and do not see what benefits it brings to them; and as a body it has become associated with failure rather than success. The introduction of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is therefore a fundamental reform. The commission will be a non-departmental public body led by an independent board and operating at arm's length from Ministers. We believe that that will provide the focus and operational flexibility that is essential if we are to deliver a successful child maintenance system. The agency's staff welcome these changes, which allow them to work more effectively to get more money to children. We have had extensive discussions with staff about the establishment of the commission and the introduction of a new system, and they are very supportive. However, it has become clear during those discussions that staff have had genuine concerns about the proposed loss of their civil service status. Many of them have been dedicated civil servants for many years and are very proud of their position, and rightly so. However, under the proposals associated with the commission, staff would have become public servants rather than civil servants. We have therefore decided to make a change. As before, we will establish the commission as a non-departmental public body, but we will give it Crown status, which means that staff will remain civil servants. An amendment will be tabled in another place to give effect to that change, which brings significant advantages. Over and above some financial advantages, it will ensure that staff in the current agency can look forward to, rather than worry about, the launch of the new commission. In short, we believe that providing Crown status for the commission will considerably increase the chances of a successful start for the new organisation. After a three-year period we will review the position to check that the same advantages continue to exist. We have made much progress during the past few months in transforming the child maintenance landscape, and we need to keep the momentum going. We have appointed the commission's chair-designate, Janet Pareskeva, who is already actively shaping the new body. We have announced the increased maintenance disregard. By the end of 2008 the disregard will be increased to £20 a week, with a full disregard in housing benefit and council tax benefit, and from April 2010 the disregard will rise to £40 a week. We are in detailed discussions with both voluntary and private sector providers to ensure that we can put in place all the key aspects of the new information and support service. We expect to be able to announce a preferred supplier for the national contact centre around the turn of the year. The increased disregard and the new information and support services underpin the wider reforms we are making. Members from all parties have supported the measures in the Bill that will stop parents with care on benefit from being automatically treated as CSA applicants. That means that all parents will have the same choices, whether or not they are on benefit, which should improve outcomes for children as it will enable more parents to agree how best to secure financial support. However, we recognise that parents may want help and support to make the decision that suits them best. The commission will provide substantial information and support services to parents to help them decide the most effective type of arrangement for them personally. We expect three main services to be provided: a large-scale national contact centre, supplemented by web access and a face-to-face service where that is considered most appropriate. The services that the commission provides will reach out to low-income families in particular. For parents who choose, or need, to use the commission, the Bill sets out a faster and more accurate process for assessing maintenance payments. Rather than asking parents for information, the commission will be able to use Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs tax data to calculate maintenance, and will update maintenance liabilities annually to ensure that they accurately reflect the non-resident parent's ability to pay. We are also developing a provision to permit parents to pass financial information disclosed during certain court proceedings to the commission to help it make fair and accurate assessments. We are working across Government and with the financial institutions to ensure that provisions in the Bill that relate to orders to deduct money directly from accounts have sufficient scope to ensure that non-resident parents cannot easily evade them. The Bill does something else of great importance. It delivers for the victims of the highly debilitating and fatal disease mesothelioma. Those provisions, too, have been received in a spirit of consensus and co-operation. The Bill introduces far-reaching and much-needed reform to important areas of welfare policy. It moves our country's system of child maintenance on to a wholly new plane. Over time, it will ensure a better start to life and therefore better life prospects for tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of children. Not one of them was responsible for the breakdown of their parents' relationship. None of them should, in any way, be impeded by that breakdown. The Bill will greatly assist in making sure that they are not.