---

Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill

The noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood, very nearly used the expression ““quitting while you’re behind””, so perhaps I had better do so. I agree with the noble Lord and the Minister on the subject of intentionally devaluing your income. Over Christmas, there was a case in the magistrates’ court in Taunton where a young man who was a non-resident parent intentionally made himself unemployed in order to avoid his responsibilities. His defence was that he had sought to become self-employed, but in the mean time, there would have been no money flowing through the system. I do not know the result, but I am sure that the Minister or I can check. It does not particularly matter; the point is that I regard that as a despicable thing to do. I think the Minister does too; we probably all do. Returning to the matter of income, is CMEC going to inquire of HMRC about the income on which it can base its calculation?