---

Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill

It will certainly generally be the case; we want to use the whole panoply of enforcement action available before we reach the orders. I am not sure that I could say that that will be the situation in every case. In any event, our estimate is that there may be 700 to 750 cases per year maximum to which the orders might apply, so it is a relatively small percentage of the likely total case load of the CSA. It would be pretty much a last resort, but preferable to committal proceedings, where there are the issues that I outlined, such as the ability to continue with contact arrangements. I have perhaps said enough about why we think that those are important provisions and why we want to retain them in the Bill. The noble Lord also referred to committal to prison under Clause 27. The Child Support Agency can already apply to the court seeking to have a non-compliance non-resident parent committed to prison for a maximum of six weeks. The clause simply restructures the existing provisions to be consistent with other provisions in the Bill. The clause will aid the effective operation of the existing committal provisions and we certainly want it to stand part of the Bill. On disqualification from driving, the CSA can currently apply to the court to seek to have the non-resident parent disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence for up to two years. Again, the changes to the driving disqualification panels align amendments to the existing committal orders, the new legislation on curfew orders and the administrative power to disqualify the non-resident parent from holding or obtaining travel authorisation. That is an important part of our armoury to ensure that we have effective compliance. Having said all that, I ask noble Lords not to press the amendments, with the exception of offering support for the government amendment, for the reasons that I have outlined.