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Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Goodlad, for tabling the amendment; it was anticipated. It would prevent the commission from administratively disqualifying the non-resident parent from holding or obtaining a travel authorisation, and would require the commission to apply to the court for such an order. While I acknowledge the concerns of Members of the Committee on this particular provision, I hope that I can convince them that the proposal in the Bill is the right way forward. First, however, I stress that the Government believe that we owe it to children who are not being financially supported to take swift and effective measures which may not always be appropriate to other forms of debt. I am sure that the whole Committee will agree that, when dealing with the hard core of non-compliant non-resident parents, the commission should be allowed to take robust action. We are firmly of the view that the threat of imminent action will be much more potent than the threat of a drawn-out court process. We believe this holds good, despite the fact that the order would not take effect until the time for appealing had expired. In putting forward this legislation, the Government have investigated what enforcement measures international child support jurisdictions employ. As has been referred to, both the US and Australia make use of a form of administrative passport surrender or travel ban in order to encourage compliance with child maintenance payments. This was highlighted by the Work and Pensions Select Committee in their January 2005 report on the performance of the CSA, which recommended that the department further examine passport removal as a potential child support tool for use in this country. Indeed, that committee had a distinguished chair—whose name escapes me just for the moment. Based on the experience of those other countries, we are of the view that the administrative disqualification of non-resident parents from holding or obtaining a travel authorisation will deliver fast and effective enforcement against those who have the financial means to pay child maintenance but refuse to do so. We have balanced the risks of doing this administratively with safeguards for the non-resident parent. In addition to the appeal provisions, a number of safeguards exist and have been included in the Bill. They will ensure that this measure is targeted against those who will not, as opposed to cannot, meet their financial obligations to their children. I also emphasise that, where an appeal has been filed, the order would be stayed—as has been acknowledged—pending the hearing, determination or withdrawal of that appeal. Thus, the person affected would have the opportunity to access an independent and impartial tribunal before any civil right was directly affected by the surrender of the passport. The noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, asked me whether I believe that someone would appeal in every instance. I do not think that is necessarily the case; if someone acknowledges that they have the cash and the commission is intent on pursuing collection, that may just be the point at which they do what they should have done previously and cough up. We have heard a lot about individuals’ civil rights, but what about the rights of children to be properly maintained? What about the obligations and responsibilities of parents? We should bear in mind that if people deliberately delay paying the maintenance that is due, that could have a significant impact on the well-being of their children. The fact that it may take years—many years, in some instances—to collect the cash does not mean that there is ultimately no impact on the children. Many children may be in poverty now because that maintenance is not flowing when it should, and while collecting later may be some comfort, it does not alleviate the problem that arises in the interim.