Draft Guardian’s Allowance Up-rating Order 2006 |
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John Smith (Vale of Glamorgan) (Lab): It is clear from all of our constituency case loads, that increasingly, partners are entering into not only shared custody, but shared residences. How then are child
Dawn Primarolo: My hon. Friend touches on an interesting point. Recently, tax credits were criticised over the number of lone parents. The tax credits, introduced under more recent legislation, cover my hon. Friend’s point, and that of the hon. Member for Rayleigh, about situations in which, to all intents and purposes, two households exist within one house. At the moment, the tax credits are slightly more flexible on that front than child benefit because of the type of legislation. As I have said, that is a difficult area, and I cannot answer the question about the Child Support Agency—that is a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions. I shall ask a Minister from that Department to respond, and ensure that all members of the Committee receive a copy of that response. At all points, I try to ensure that the child benefit system operates as smoothly as possible. However, the criticisms that are made about the administration of the system often relate to the vexed and difficult area of relationship breakdown. Mr. Francois: I entirely accept the Paymaster General’s point that we are, by definition, dealing with very difficult issues and that it is difficult for a Government of any colour to legislate effectively for circumstances in which a relationship has broken down and there is acrimony between parents. All that I ask is that, in administering the system, the Paymaster General’s officials try to look on such cases with as much sympathy as is practically possible given those constraints, because their decisions sometimes result in considerable financial hardship for the other parent. I acknowledge the practical problems; I am just making a plea, based on representations that have been made to us, for officials to act sympathetically. I hope that it is clear that that is not a partisan point but a perfectly reasonable one. Dawn Primarolo: In conclusion, and in response to that point, I would say three things. First, the breakdown of a relationship causes enormous problems in a family, and they are often financial. When the personal and the financial become conflated it can be difficult to resolve issues. Secondly, however, I believe that my officials do their best to be sensible when they take decisions on such matters. I am sure that the Committee understands that they are nervous of using a great deal of discretion, because that leaves them open to challenge. My third point is that I am not aware of any representation that has been made recently about specific administrative improvements that could smooth matters in that troubled area. If the hon. Gentleman has any, I shall be more than happy to receive them from him, and to look into the detail to
I think that I have dealt with all the questions, so I commend the orders to the Committee. Question put and agreed to. Resolved,
Column Number: 14 DRAFT GUARDIAN’S ALLOWANCE UP-RATING (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER 2006 Resolved,
Resolved,
Committee rose at eight minutes past Five o’clock. |
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