Welfare Reform Bill

I shall speak also to the other amendments in this group but, before doing so, I thank the Minister for listening to our earlier concerns and for agreeing to bring forward an amendment at the next stage exempting victims of domestic violence from the requirement to look for work for three months. It is extremely welcome to have that spelt out in the Bill. While I am on my feet, I also thank him for the other concessions set out in the letter that he gave us and in the speech that he made last Thursday. They almost took us by surprise but are most welcome, and I thank him very much for listening to our concerns. However, I do not think that that means that we will not have a lively Report stage. We reached the clauses concerning joint birth registrations late last Thursday, when the problem of domestic violence was raised but only very briefly during the short debate on the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale. As the Minister’s amendments in the previous group were technical, it may help if I recap what my amendment refers to in this part of the Bill. At present, 84 per cent of all births outside marriage are jointly registered. As we heard last Thursday, just 7 per cent of all births—around 45,000 cases—are solely registered, and this proportion is on a downward trend. The DWP’s own research suggests that in around half of cases where a child’s birth is solely registered—about 23,000 cases—the mother is not in any relationship with the father at the time of the birth. Around 40 per cent are aged 20 or under, with the research indicating that they face high levels of disadvantage. This part of the Bill introduces compulsory joint birth registration for all unmarried parents. We on these Benches endorse the principle of joint birth registration and wish fathers to take as active a role as mothers in bringing up their children where this is possible and safe. Any child has a right to know the identity of his or her father, and that is why we believe that joint birth registration should be positively encouraged where it is safe to do so. Those who have briefed us on this part of the Bill are also keen to make it clear that they are not opposed to the principle of joint birth registration and emphatically do not want to weaken these clauses. These organisations are primarily Gingerbread, which speaks for one-parent families, the NSPCC, Family Action, Women’s Aid, Refuge, the National Family and Parenting Institute and the Fawcett Society. So what is the problem and why do we need this amendment? In, I stress, a small minority of cases, we believe that without adequate safeguards vulnerable women and children could be put at risk because of a loophole in the Bill. Under Schedule 6, the mother does not have to provide crucial information enabling the father to be contacted by the registrar if she has reason to fear for her safety or that of the child if steps are taken to contact the father requiring him to register. As we know from last Thursday’s debate, if a mother registers the birth alone and does not know the whereabouts of the father so that he cannot be contacted, the father cannot be registered, even if the mother knows his name, because no data can be considered which cannot be verified. The Minister made that very clear. However, what happens if a father himself approaches the registrar either before or after the birth asking to be on the birth certificate? If the mother confirms his paternity, the father then acquires parental responsibility for the child in all circumstances. The first group of amendments covers the situation where the father approaches the registrar before the birth, while the second group deals with a situation where the father comes forward after sole registration has taken place seeking a re-registration of the birth to record him as the father. The amendments seek to ensure that, in these circumstances, if the mother declares to the registrar that the father poses a danger to herself and her child, then the father’s name is not recorded on the birth registration. It might be possible for it to be recorded elsewhere by the registrar, but we know that the Government are not keen on that. It would, however, be open to the father to apply to the family court under Section 4 of the Children Act for an order allowing him to have parental responsibility. If the court so ordered, the registrar could then enter the father’s name on the register as the father of the child. Even if the court did not order that he should have parental responsibility, it could still record that he was the father of the child. I gather that this happens now. Parental responsibility gives the parent the right to have a say in the major decisions in the child’s life, including on their name, religion, education and medical treatment and on where the child lives. It also enables a parent to apply for a passport for the child. Parental responsibility gives fathers a right to approach agencies, such as schools and hospitals, for information about the child. NSPCC practitioners have encountered cases where schools have allowed dangerous parents to collect children from school because the parent has parental responsibility, so this is not only a theoretical problem. When the White Paper on joint birth registration was published last year, the Government accepted that there were certain circumstances, such as where a man had been convicted of rape or violence against the mother or was on the sex offenders register, where it would be unsuitable for a father’s name to go on the birth certification. Paragraph 29 states: ""we will develop legislation to allow the father to declare his paternity and have his name recorded in the birth register where this might be against the wishes of the mother. This will be on the condition that the mother acknowledges that he is the father and that there is no significant evidence against his registering (for instance, he has been convicted of rape or violence against the mother or is on the sex offenders register)"." Why is this condition omitted from the Bill? Studies show that 30 per cent of domestic violence starts during pregnancy and that the period immediately after the birth can be a time of particular tension. The Bill gives no protection to a mother from a violent and abusive man who wishes to gain access to the woman or child through the misuse of the parental responsibility that he has acquired in relation to the new baby in a situation where she might be trying to get away and escape that control. Research evidence shows that violence and victimisation of women and children can continue, and even escalate, after the relationship has ended and the parents are separated. There is another very worrying statistic: it is estimated that between 30 and 60 per cent of children whose mothers are subjected to domestic violence are also being abused. To sum up, the amendments simply seek to prevent a small minority of dangerous men gaining automatic parental responsibility in relation to a child as a result of their names having to go on the birth register without the proper scrutiny of a family court. If the family court orders that the father should have parental responsibility, the birth of the child can be re-registered including the father’s name. If the Bill acknowledges, as it does, that the safety of a mother and her child is a potential issue when compulsory joint registration of births is implemented by the registrar, why does it offer protection only when the mother approaches the registrar and not when the father separately approaches the registrar? In the former situation protection is given; in the latter situation it is not. I repeat that there are no exemptions in the Bill to protect mothers or children from a father who has previous convictions and a history of violence, or even rape, against the mother and/or other children if that father independently contacts the registrar. I urge the Minister to consider these amendments. I beg to move.