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Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, I am inclined to support the amendment. It is important that we make it clear to all potential fathers, particularly to young men, that they will suffer severe penalties if they do not pay their child maintenance—that means, if they have a child. The default situation at the moment seems to be that, if you have a child and you have not really made any commitment to it, then you just forget about it. The previous Government brought forward the child maintenance Bill, but it has not worked. Then there was the other Bill—I forget its name—which has not worked. We now have a third attempt to make this thing work and I reckon that it is about our last chance. It is incredibly important that young people, particularly young fathers, are given the strong feeling that it is the opinion of our society that a father is equally responsible as the mother for a child who is brought into this world.