Public Bill Committee: 24th July 2007

100

Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill, continued

(a)	about the cases and circumstances in which the power under subsection

(1) is exercisable, including provision restricting the exercise of that

power by virtue of a change of circumstance;

(b)	about the procedure in relation to the exercise of such power under

subsection (1); and

(c)	for any person affected to have a right of appeal to the High Court within

seven days of the making of the order.’.

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

64

Clause  25,  page  18,  line  18,  leave out from ‘may’ to ‘a’ and insert ‘apply to the

court for an order to disqualify’.

Mr Mike Weir

92

Clause  25,  page  18,  line  24,  after ‘unpaid’, insert—

‘(ba)

the person from whom the Commission has sought to recover an amount

in terms of subsection (1) has been given an opportunity to make

representations to the Commission;’.

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

86

Clause  25,  page  19,  line  7,  leave out subsection (b).

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

61

Page  23,  line  23,  leave out Clause 26.

Andrew Selous

Mr Mark Harper

Mr Stewart Jackson

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

21

Clause  29,  page  32,  line  26,  at end insert—

‘(1A)

In circumstances where a person’s liabilities to pay child maintenance result in

sums owing to a parent with care, before exercising its powers under subsection

Public Bill Committee: 24th July 2007

101

Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill, continued

(1), the Commission must first obtain the permission of the parent with care in

writing.’.

Andrew Selous

Mr Mark Harper

Mr Stewart Jackson

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

22

Clause  30,  page  32,  line  37,  at beginning insert ‘Subject to the permission in

writing of any person to whom arrears of child support maintenance are owed,’.

Andrew Selous

Mr Mark Harper

Mr Stewart Jackson

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

23

Clause  31,  page  33,  line  5,  at beginning insert ‘Subject to the permission in writing

of any person to whom arrears of child support maintenance are owed,’.

Mr Mike Weir

93

Clause  31,  page  33,  line  10,  at end insert—

‘(1A)

In making a decision to extinguish liability for arrears of child support

maintenance under subsection (1) the Commission shall have regard to the

welfare of the child or children in respect of whom the arrears are due.’.

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

50

Clause  36,  page  35,  line  21,  at end insert—

‘(3A)

The results and finding of all pilot schemes must be published in separate

reports—

(a)	every six months while the pilot scheme is in operation, and

(b)	at the conclusion of every pilot scheme.’.

Public Bill Committee: 24th July 2007

102

Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill, continued

Mr Mike Weir

94

Clause  37,  page  35,  line  32,  leave out ‘20’ and insert ‘25’.

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

51

Clause  39,  page  36,  line  6,  at end insert ‘(subject to subsection (3))’.

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

52

Clause  39,  page  36,  line  6,  at end insert—

‘(2)	The Secertary of State must publish a report on the systems that will be put in

place to facilitate information sharing between Her Majesty’s Revenue and

Customs and the Commission.

(3)	A Minister of the Crown must make a motion in each House of Parliament in

relation to the report mentioned in subsection (2) before the coming into effect of

Schedule 6.’.

Andrew Selous

Mr Mark Harper

Mr Stewart Jackson

16

Page  36,  line  7,  leave out Clause 40.

Mr Mike Weir

95

Clause  50,  page  41,  line  45,  at end add—

‘(7)	The Secretary of State must consult with all organisations with a relevant material

interest prior to making regulations under this Act.’.

Andrew Selous

Mr Mark Harper

Mr Stewart Jackson

14

Clause  57,  page  43,  line  22,  after ‘sections’, insert ‘16, [Duty of HM Revenue and

Public Bill Committee: 24th July 2007

103

Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill, continued

Customs to ascertain financial circumstances of non-resident parent],’.

New Clauses

Application to Commission by third party

Andrew Selous

Mr Mark Harper

Mr Stewart Jackson

NC1

To move the following Clause:—

‘Where a child’s welfare is at risk because appropriate maintenance arrangements

have not been established, a third party specified by the Secretary of State can, on

behalf of the child, make an application to the Commission.’.

Duty of HM Revenue and Customs to ascertain financial circumstances of non-resident

parent

Andrew Selous

Mr Mark Harper

Mr Stewart Jackson

NC2

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	In section 11 of the Child Support Act 1991 (maintenance calculations) after

subsection (6) insert—

“(6A)

Where subsection (6) applies or an application for a variation under

section 28 has been made by either the non-resident parent or the parent

with care and any question arises concerning the income of the non-

resident parent—

(a)	HMRC shall take all reasonable steps to investigate and verify

the financial circumstances of the non-resident parent in order to

establish his income for the purposes of this Act or regulations

made under it;

(b)	the non-resident parent shall provide such information as is

required by HMRC in order to verify the financial information

submitted by him or on his behalf.”.

(2)	After subsection (8) of that section insert—

“(8A)

In this section “HMRC” means the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s

Revenue and Customs.”’.

Public Bill Committee: 24th July 2007

104

Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill, continued

Enhanced enforcement to coincide with changes to the calculation of maintenance

Andrew Selous

Mr Mark Harper

Mr Stewart Jackson

NC3

To move the following Clause:—

‘When applying section 57 of this Act, the Secretary of State shall only

implement the provisions contained in sections 19 to 28 inclusive of this Act on

such day as the provisions contained in section 16 and [Duty of HM Revenue and

Customs to ascertain financial circumstances of non-resident parent] of this Act

also come into force.’.

Power of parental enforcement

Andrew Selous

Mr Mark Harper

Mr Stewart Jackson

NC4

To move the following Clause:—

‘If the Commission fails to enforce a maintenance assessment in a reasonable

period, the parent with care can request that a liability order be issued which can

be enforced independently through the county court.’.

Information required by the Commission

Andrew Selous

Mr Mark Harper

Mr Stewart Jackson

NC5

To move the following Clause:—

‘In section 14 of the Child Support Act 1991 (information requirements), after

subsection (1A) insert—

“(2)	Regulations under subsection (1) shall in particular require a person, who

is subject to a change of circumstance which would result in a decision

by the Commission to superseding an earlier decision under section 17 of

the Act on non-resident parents, to furnish the Commission with

information and evidence regarding the said change of circumstances

within 42 days.”.’.

Public Bill Committee: 24th July 2007

105

Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill, continued

Financial circumstances of non-resident parent

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

NC6

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	In section 11 of the Child Support Act 1991 (maintenance calculations) after

subsection (6) insert—

“(6A)

Where subsection (6) applies or an application for a variation under

section 28 has been made by either the non-resident parent or the parent

with care and any question arises concerning the income of the non-

resident parent—

(a)	the Commission shall take all reasonable steps to investigate and

verify the financial circumstances of the non-resident parent in

order to establish his income for the purposes of this Act or

regulations made under it;

(b)	the non-resident parent shall provide such information as is

required by the Commission in order to verify the financial

information submitted by him or on his behalf.” ’.

Report on private arrangements

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

NC7

To move the following Clause:—

‘The Secretary of State must, within one year of the coming into force of this

section, conduct and publish research on—

(a)	the number of parents expected to reach private arrangements;

(b)	parents’ perceptions of the efficacy of private arrangements;

(c)	the possible effect of removing the compulsion for parents with care

claiming state benefits to use the Commission on the number of such

parents with maintenance arrangements in place.’.

Seizure of goods

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

NC9

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The Commission may make an order under this section against a person where—

(a)	it has sought to recover an amount from the person by means of taking

enforcement action by virtue of sections 35 or 38, or by means to a third

Public Bill Committee: 24th July 2007

106

Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill, continued

party debt order or a charging order by virtue of section 36 of the Child

Support Act 1991;

(b)	the whole or any part of the amount remains unpaid; and

(c)	the Commission is of the opinion that there has been wilful refusal or

culpable neglect on the part of the person.

(2)	For the purposes of subsection 1(a), the Commission is to be taken to have sought

to recover an amount by means of a charging order if an interim charging order

has been made, whether or not any further steps have been taken to recover the

amount.

(3)	A person against whom an order is made under section 1 shall surrender such

goods, the value of which the Commission estimates to equal the amount

remaining unpaid.

(4)	Any goods found on such a seizure shall be applied towards payment of any

amount that is owed to the Commission and the balance (if any) shall be returned

to the person from whom goods have been seized.

(5)	The Commission shall not allow the application under section 4 of goods if it is

satisfied that the goods do not belong to the person.

(6)	Before making an order under this section against a person, the Commission shall

consider whether the person needs certain goods in order to make a living, which

may then be exempted from seizure.’.

Shared care

Andrew Selous

Mr Mark Harper

Mr Stewart Jackson

NC10

To move the following Clause:—

‘The Secretary of State must, prior to the establishment of the Commission,

publish a report which analyses whether the reduction in maintenance due to

share care, or any other factor, is leading to a reduction in shared care.’.

Entitlement of parent with care

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

NC11

To move the following Clause:—

‘The Secretary of State may by regulations made provision for the parent with

care to—

(a)	make representations, oral, written or otherwise, in enforcement

proceedings commenced under this Act and to attend enforcement

proceedings hearings brought under this Act, and

---

Revised 24 July 2007