---

Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill

My noble friend raises an extremely important point. Maintenance arrangements come into play in a variety of circumstances. People may have divorced or separated after living together for a long time and therefore would have a greater understanding of the resources of both partners. But with a casual relationship, I accept entirely that it would be much more difficult for the parent with care to make an assessment. A calculator or a ready reckoner will be part of the information and support service. But, in circumstances where it is clear that the parent with care has no idea of the income of the non-resident parent, an obvious choice would be to use the statutory system. An assessment would be undertaken and the arrangements that the commission would have to access HMRC data would kick in. It is a real issue and it is important that we build the information and support service on a robust basis and ensure that there is good information for parents with care around these issues.