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Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill

My Lords, I acknowledge that we need to do everything we can to make sure that fraud in the benefit system is challenged, tackled and designed out wherever possible. A great deal of work has been done on this. Indeed, the data in recent years show that benefit fraud has reduced quite significantly. I reiterate that 90 per cent of settlements in child maintenance arrangements are already below the £40 disregard level. With the move towards encouraging voluntary arrangements where appropriate, it is quite possible that some people currently on benefit, particularly at the higher end of the payment arrangements, will go into the voluntary system, which is something we want to see happen. If child maintenance is paid, we would encourage the benefit recipient to report it To the extent that they do not, obviously some of the pressures on Jobcentre Plus that my noble friend mentioned will be diminished. But that is a consequence of the redesigned system and we will have to make it work. As I have said, Jobcentre Plus is confident that it has the capacity to tackle that issue. The noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood, is looking equally sceptical, but these are the data that I have and I see no reason why the system cannot be made to operate. Having said all that, I am sure that I have satisfied each of the points that have been raised and I ask the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.