SECOND REPORT
The Social Security Committee has agreed to the
following Report:—
THE POWER TO INCUR EXPENDITURE UNDER SECTION
82 OF THE WELFARE REFORM AND PENSIONS ACT 1999: NEW INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM FOR THE CHILD SUPPORT AGENCY (FURTHER REPORT)
1. In our First Report of this Session[1]
we considered the proposal by the Secretary of State to use, for
the first time, certain powers conferred on him under Section
82 of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999.[2]
The Committee expressed reservations on both the procedure adopted
and the information presented to the Committee.
2. In particular we recommended[3]
that:
"When the Secretary of State's report has
been finalised a copy is provided to the Committee prior to the
laying before the House so that the Committee may provide the
assurance and advice which we believe should be available when
the House considers the Report".
3. The Secretary of State has written to the Chairman
of the Committee[4]
enclosing a final draft of the report[5]
and in that covering letter, responding to the Committee's report.
4. The Committee has now had the opportunity to consider
both the letter and the draft report. The Committee welcomes the
inclusion of many of its recommendations. The Secretary of State
outlines three areas where he is unable fully to accept our recommendations,
namely:
"That the amount, nature and timing of the financial
liabilities that will be accrued by signing a contract with Affinity
should be stated on the face of the Report".
"The House should be told what unavoidable expenditure
there will be in the event of the Bill not being enacted or being
substantively amended".
"We Believe that it may be possible to ensure
that Affinity does not begin the Child Support-specific work until
after Royal Assent by relatively minor adjustments to the timetable,
thus avoiding the accrual of financial liabilities with Affinity.
The Report to be laid before the House should specify when Affinity
will commence work that is specifically related to the Child Support,
Pensions and Social Security Bill".
Having considered these areas again, we believe that
the information contained in the Secretary of State's report is
a reasonable compromise and provides sufficient protection to
the taxpayer.
5. As far as the expenditure under the powers conferred
on the Secretary of State now proposed within the report is concerned,
we accept that this seems reasonable in order to ensure that there
is no further delay in the programme to implement the new IT system
for the Child Support Agency and we can therefore recommend
approval to the House.
6. We remain concerned that the way in which the
House and its Committees deal with this procedure should be considered
carefully. We therefore re-affirm the recommendation in our
previous report:
"While the power to incur expenditure in
this way has been passed into law, we believe it would be appropriate
to consider how best the House and its Committees should deal
with any future similar cases. We therefore recommend that the
arrangements are considered by the Procedure Committee and we
should welcome that Committee's view on the procedure to be adopted
in future".[6]
1 First Report from the Social Security Committee,
Session 1999-2000, HC 180, The Power to Incur Expenditure Under
Section 82 of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999: New Information
Technology System for the Child Support Agency. Back
2 First Report from the Social Security Committee, Session 1999-2000,
HC 180, The Power to Incur Expenditure Under Section 82 of
the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999: New Information Technology
System for the Child Support Agency, p.x. Back
3 Op. cit. para 17. Back
4 Appendix. Back
5 Not printed herewith. The report will be laid before the House
in due course. Back
6 Op cit. para 16. Back
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