---

Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill

I am happy to concur with that conclusion. It is certainly true that the Government’s policy is to move all financial support in the direction of child benefit and tax credits. We know that that is already happening for new claimants, but the latest date for transfer that I have—it has been much delayed in the past for existing IS claimants—is 31 December 2008. I am certain that that deadline will slip, so it will be a long time coming. It is certainly true also that HMRC has no recovery powers, liable relative or otherwise, for tax credits. Child tax credits are obviously slightly different—I think that they are the same as a benefit—but, technically, they are not considered to be part of the benefits system, so people may have anticipated that change already. I am fearful that we will look back on this legislation in the future and think that we have made a bit of an error. I was around at the time when the jobseeker’s allowance change was made. The case made for that was that the Child Support Agency was going to fill the gap. Everyone was confident on that glad morning in 1996, but it just did not work out. If noble Lords look back at the exchanges on the jobseeker’s allowance legislation in 1995-96, they will see that expectations raised by Ministers at the time were not fulfilled. However, the Minister is prepared to go away and join us in a collective think about this. It is in everyone’s interest to get this right. A little more thought is probably necessary to make sure that we do not take a step that has unintended consequences. Clause 42 agreed to. Clause 43 agreed to. Clause 44 [Conditions of entitlement]: