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Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill

I agree with the noble Baroness that the framework she has just described is precisely what DCSF is engaged in. It is looking at supporting parents and promoting the welfare of children across a whole range of issues; but it is right, as part of that Government-wide approach, to be clear that we should have arrangements in place to encourage parents on a voluntary basis to enter into financial arrangements for the maintenance of their children and to put in place a statutory system for those who cannot reach agreement. If we move the focus too much away from what is, in a sense, a nuts-and-bolts Bill, for which we do not apologise, we run the risk of overloading the commission in what we are asking it to do and losing focus on that very key issue. At the end of the day, whatever other policies are wrapped around it—and I entirely agree that they are hugely important—if we cannot get the nuts and bolts of a maintenance system operating, we are going to deny prospects for thousands of children. That is what happened in the past and we need to improve on it. That is why we are right to focus the Bill as we have.