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Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill

moved Amendment No. 9: 9: Clause 9, page 4, line 40, leave out ““section”” and insert ““sections 7(1) and”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, Clause 9 places a requirement on the commission to prepare an annual report for the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State must then lay a copy of that report before Parliament enabling the proper scrutiny of the commission’s performance. The annual report must detail all the activities undertaken by the commission in the previous financial year and must also include the report prepared by the non-executive functions committee. The commission is specifically required through this clause to report on: its strategic direction; the statutory requirement to exercise its functions effectively and efficiently; the steps taken to meet its statutory objectives and targets; the extent to which they have been met; and the extent to which it has commissioned out work. This amendment requires the commission to report on the extent to which it has relied on the provision for agency arrangements in Clause 7(1). Noble Lords who were present in Committee in January may recall that this amendment was tabled then by the noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood. At that time, the Government requested that the noble Lord let them consider his amendment further and allow them to come back to him on Report. I am pleased to tell the noble Lord that I agree that his amendment would set out clearly in statute what we had, in fact, intended in any case, which is that the commission should report on its use of any external body to deliver services on its behalf. Before I finish, I briefly inform your Lordships that in Committee, the Government mentioned that there is currently no timeframe for the annual report as such to be produced. I should like to clarify that Treasury guidelines state that the annual report should be laid in Parliament with the annual accounts. There is a statutory requirement provided for in the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 that the annual accounts should be laid in Parliament by the Treasury by 31 January. The Treasury may direct that the Secretary of State take on responsibility. I therefore beg to move the amendment standing in the name of my noble friend Lord Mackenzie of Luton, with thanks to the noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood.