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Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, I intervened on the point of joint registration for the first time on Report. I support the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas of Winchester. I was slightly dismayed to find that the Minister did not accept what I said on Report. I gave specific evidence—I know that in this House I should not "give evidence"—from my experience as a judge in my former life, where I heard cases in which a tiny minority of fathers had misused parental responsibility. It remains a real concern that this tiny group of cases will fall through the net under the joint registration scheme in the Bill. I reiterate to the Government that they must not treat as unimportant the tiny group of men who get parental responsibility because of joint registration and may misuse it. I have tried these cases. Other judges who have also tried the cases sometimes rule that fathers who have acquired parental responsibility are not entitled to use it. They may keep it—fathers who are married to mothers automatically have it—but occasionally an order is made saying that they cannot use it. I should like the Government to take account of this and not treat what I said as lightly as I fear that they did, as if this was not a matter of real concern. In a tiny group of cases, it remains a matter that the Government should treat very seriously. I very much support what was said by the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas.