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Welfare Reform Bill

The noble Earl raises the complex issue, which we have been looking at very closely, of whether exemptions are appropriate in this area, and we have reluctantly come to the view that they simply are not appropriate. It is just so complicated to define and difficult to police. As we all know, the costs of family breakdown are extraordinarily high, and it is difficult to organise a state system to manage that in the fullest possible way. When we looked at this, the numbers of non-resident parents who kept in touch with their children were, regrettably, relatively small. On the question of whether that keeping in touch was overnight and whether that was an essential, the numbers shrank even more. So we were looking at a very small issue in terms of numbers and an incredibly high cost due to the way that it would then be used if we had a blanket exemption.