Parliamentary search - Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill

Type

Parliamentary proceeding

Reference

476 c648-86

Session

2007-08

Department

Department for Work and Pensions

Legislative stage

Lords amendments

Procedure

Programme motions
New clauses

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill. Lords amendments. Explanatory Notes Bill 116-EN also published.
Monday, 2 June 2008
Bills
House of Commons

Proceeding contributions

Oliver Heald | 476 c650 (Link to this contribution) Is this not just another example of dithering? The Government began by saying ““Let us have an arm's...

James Plaskitt | 476 c649 (Link to this contribution) We come to what are almost the final stages of Parliament's consideration of the Bill. Indeed, we ar...

Show all contributions (87)

Speaker | 476 c649 (Link to this contribution) With this we may discuss Lords amendments Nos. 2 to 5 and Nos. 106 to 117.

James Plaskitt | 476 c650 (Link to this contribution) There is no great mystery. The most important thing that the Bill introduces is the commission, whic...

Oliver Heald | 476 c649 (Link to this contribution) Obviously it is sensible for the commission's staff to retain their status as civil servants, but wh...

James Plaskitt | 476 c649 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That this House agrees with the Lords in the said amendment.

Oliver Heald | 476 c656-7 (Link to this contribution) The history of the status of the commission in the Bill says a great deal about leadership, or the l...

John Bercow | 476 c657 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes his case with his characteristic understatement. The Minister has been very cou...

Oliver Heald | 476 c657 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has come to a very important point—it is the third point that I want to make, but I w...

James Plaskitt | 476 c651-2 (Link to this contribution) There has been no dithering. Let me do this again. We introduced the NDPB proposal, which was welcom...

James Plaskitt | 476 c652-3 (Link to this contribution) The key point is that this is an issue specific to the commission. The reason why it makes sense to ...

Paul Rowen | 476 c652 (Link to this contribution) I would be grateful if the Minister explained what it is that he sees diminishing with time. A simil...

John Penrose | 476 c654 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that on the basis of what the Minister has been saying, it seems that the ...

Andrew Selous | 476 c653-4 (Link to this contribution) Let me start by thanking the Minister for his thanks to Opposition Members for our co-operation and ...

Paul Rowen | 476 c655-6 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Minister's introductory remarks. We made several suggestions and amendments in Committ...

Andrew Selous | 476 c654-5 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend, because certainty is important in employment; people want to know that ...

James Plaskitt | 476 c651 (Link to this contribution) This is getting a bit repetitive. Let me say again that there is no dithering. The fundamental objec...

Nadine Dorries | 476 c651 (Link to this contribution) Has the dithering, or non-dithering, had any affect on staff morale?

James Plaskitt | 476 c651 (Link to this contribution) No, he is not; he will confirm what my noble Friend said in the other place. There is plenty of cons...

Oliver Heald | 476 c651 (Link to this contribution) Even now, the Minister has not finally made up his mind as to whether it should be a Crown body. The...

John Bercow | 476 c650 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister give way?

James Plaskitt | 476 c650 (Link to this contribution) The body will remain at arm's length. It is a non-departmental public body. The idea was to put it a...

John Bercow | 476 c651 (Link to this contribution) It might prompt the Minister, although I suspect that the answer is now being furnished to him, if I...

James Plaskitt | 476 c650 (Link to this contribution) I may be able to assist the hon. Gentleman with that if he gives me a little time.

John Bercow | 476 c650 (Link to this contribution) Amendment 2(6) makes provision for an order-making power. My view is that clarity is of the essence....

James Plaskitt | 476 c650 (Link to this contribution) I will give way when I have finished replying to the hon. Gentleman's colleague. The fundamental st...

Oliver Heald | 476 c662 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is being generous, and I am happy to make this my last intervention. If the Minister a...

James Plaskitt | 476 c662 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way once more, and then I want to return to answering the points raised in the debate.

James Plaskitt | 476 c663 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That this House agrees with the Lords in the said amendment.

James Plaskitt | 476 c662-3 (Link to this contribution) That is not the way I was taught logic. It does not mean that at all. The relationship can be more d...

Oliver Heald | 476 c662 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry to have disappointed the Minister earlier. Nevertheless, does he not agree that the effec...

James Plaskitt | 476 c661-2 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely; I do not deny that for a moment. The hon. Gentleman and his colleagues certainly raised ...

James Plaskitt | 476 c662 (Link to this contribution) It is distant, but that does not mean, as the hon. Gentleman previously inferred, that Ministers hav...

Andrew Selous | 476 c661 (Link to this contribution) I think that the Bill may have begun its course when some of my other hon. Friends were occupying sh...

Andrew Selous | 476 c660 (Link to this contribution) I was under the impression that the Health and Safety Commission had just been wound up into the Hea...

James Plaskitt | 476 c660-1 (Link to this contribution) It makes the point that I was making as well—that there is a small number of such NDPBs. We are addi...

James Plaskitt | 476 c660 (Link to this contribution) I shall try to respond to the points that have been raised in the debate on the first group of amend...

Mike Weir | 476 c659-60 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman, and I was not criticising the unions. I was just pointing ...

Oliver Heald | 476 c659 (Link to this contribution) But does not the hon. Gentleman agree that public service is important, and that the ethos of civil ...

Mike Weir | 476 c658-9 (Link to this contribution) I did get some support, and I was very grateful for it at the time. I am sorry that this is one of t...

Andrew Selous | 476 c658 (Link to this contribution) We supported you.

Mike Weir | 476 c658 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Rochdale (Paul Rowen) said that we started on the Bill a year ago; somehow it se...

Oliver Heald | 476 c657-8 (Link to this contribution) That is exactly the point, and my hon. Friend is right to use the expression ““Henry VIII power””. H...

John Bercow | 476 c657 (Link to this contribution) I certainly would not accuse my hon. Friend of overstatement at any stage. We in the Opposition may ...

James Plaskitt | 476 c686 (Link to this contribution) I again thank the hon. Members for South-West Bedfordshire and for Rochdale on their support for the...

Paul Rowen | 476 c685-6 (Link to this contribution) I, too, welcome the proposals contained in this string of amendments. The change from the negative t...

Andrew Selous | 476 c681-2 (Link to this contribution) Conservative Front Benchers support Lords amendments Nos. 86 to 89. I raised this issue in Committee...

James Plaskitt | 476 c681 (Link to this contribution) This is a small group of amendments dealing with debt, which was debated in some detail in Committee...

James Plaskitt | 476 c684 (Link to this contribution) We come to the final group of amendments. They are minor and technical, and in most cases reflect th...

Andrew Selous | 476 c684-5 (Link to this contribution) As the Minister said, we have now come to the final group of amendments. When I see a group of amend...

James Plaskitt | 476 c684 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That this House agrees with the Lords in the said amendment.

Speaker | 476 c684 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss Lords amendments Nos. 94, 95, 100, 103, 104, 120, 121, an...

Jenny Willott | 476 c683 (Link to this contribution) If the initial amount of debt in the name of the non-resident parent is recalculated at a much lower...

James Plaskitt | 476 c683-4 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady makes an interesting point about alterations in the level of debt. Historically, that ...

James Plaskitt | 476 c682-3 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Members for South-West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous) and for Rochdale (Paul...

James Plaskitt | 476 c673 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That this House agrees with the Lords in the said amendment.

Oliver Heald | 476 c678 (Link to this contribution) I support the idea that a passport can be taken away from someone who wilfully does not pay. There m...

Charles Walker | 476 c678-9 (Link to this contribution) I realise that I am probably the Minister's worst nightmare—some sort of idle Back Bencher pottering...

James Plaskitt | 476 c679-80 (Link to this contribution) In that case, perhaps I had better begin by responding to the points raised by the hon. Member for B...

James Plaskitt | 476 c681 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That this House agrees with the Lords in the said amendment.

Speaker | 476 c673 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss Lords amendments Nos. 8 to 85, 96, 98, 99, 102 and 122.

James Plaskitt | 476 c673-5 (Link to this contribution) This group of amendments relates to the powers available to the commission to tackle non-resident pa...

Andrew Selous | 476 c675-7 (Link to this contribution) The third group of amendments that we find before us, which relate to deduction orders and preventin...

Paul Rowen | 476 c677-8 (Link to this contribution) I, too, welcome this string of amendments. As the Minister knows, during proceedings on the Bill we ...

Speaker | 476 c681 (Link to this contribution) With this we may discuss Lords amendments Nos. 87 to 89.

Andrew Selous | 476 c671 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister give way?

James Plaskitt | 476 c671 (Link to this contribution) If it is on the point that we are discussing.

Oliver Heald | 476 c671 (Link to this contribution) Is it part of the thinking on amendments Nos. 118 and 119 that if national insurance records can be ...

James Plaskitt | 476 c671 (Link to this contribution) It is a mixture of both. Of course, one of the tricks that the unwilling non-resident parent sometim...

Charles Walker | 476 c672 (Link to this contribution) Let us consider a situation in which a self-employed individual is declaring an income of £10,000, w...

James Plaskitt | 476 c672-3 (Link to this contribution) Yes. If the hon. Gentleman is able to stay for further considerations this afternoon, he will see th...

Andrew Selous | 476 c671-2 (Link to this contribution) I have been listening carefully to the Minister. Perhaps I missed it, but I have not heard him say t...

James Plaskitt | 476 c672 (Link to this contribution) I beg the hon. Gentleman's pardon, because I meant to cover that point. The information that I have ...

Paul Rowen | 476 c673 (Link to this contribution) I would accept that point if the word ““reasonably”” were in Lords amendment No. 6, but it is in Lor...

James Plaskitt | 476 c673 (Link to this contribution) I can reassure the hon. Gentleman that the inclusion of that word does not in any way water down the...

James Plaskitt | 476 c663-4 (Link to this contribution) This group of amendments relates to the assessment and collection of child maintenance, and the comm...

Andrew Selous | 476 c664-7 (Link to this contribution) The official Opposition welcome the amendments in the second group, which, as the Minister said, cov...

Oliver Heald | 476 c668 (Link to this contribution) How will the data-matching proposed in Lords amendments Nos. 118 and 119 take place? Will it be poss...

James Plaskitt | 476 c669 (Link to this contribution) We have had a useful debate. I agree with the hon. Member for South-West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous...

Andrew Selous | 476 c669-70 (Link to this contribution) There is also the issue of expenses. Section 80 of the Child Support Act 1991 did not mention chargi...

Nadine Dorries | 476 c670 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to hear that the cross-referencing of data will be robust, but one way of using that ...

James Plaskitt | 476 c670-1 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady raises an interesting point. One thing that has bedevilled the agency's performance in...

Speaker | 476 c663 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss Lords amendments Nos. 90 to 92, 97, 101, 105, 118 and 119...

Paul Rowen | 476 c682 (Link to this contribution) We, too, welcome the amendments. The Minister will recall that in Committee a major concern of ours ...

Paul Rowen | 476 c667-8 (Link to this contribution) I, too, welcome the amendments. I am sure the Minister recalls that in Committee we also raised conc...

Charles Walker | 476 c668-9 (Link to this contribution) I did not serve on the Committee, but I was interested in the comments of my hon. Friend the Member ...

James Plaskitt | 476 c670 (Link to this contribution) Interestingly we are now going back to the discussion from the first group of amendments on the exte...

Subjects

Child support

Children

Appeals

Assets

Civil servants

Correspondence

Arrears

Child Support Agency

Maintenance

Payments

Non-departmental public bodies