House of Commons Public Bill Committee Proceedings

Session 2010 - 12
Internet Publications
Other Bills before Parliament

67

House of Commons

Tuesday 24 May 2011

Public Bill Committee Proceedings

Welfare Reform Bill

[Twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth sittings]

Mr Liam Byrne

Stephen Timms

Ms Karen Buck

Margaret Curran

Withdrawn  272

Clause  128,  page  97,  line  16,  at end insert—

‘(3)
In section 6 of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008, after

subsection 2 insert—

“(2A)
The Secretary of State shall not levy any fees on a parent with care,

except in prescribed circumstances.”.’.

Mr Liam Byrne

Stephen Timms

Ms Karen Buck

Margaret Curran

Not called  273

Clause  128,  page  97,  line  16,  at end insert—

‘(3)
In section 6 of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008, after

subsection 2 insert—

“(2A)
The Secretary of State shall not levy any fees until the Commission has

achieved prescribed performance targets and standards set by the

Secretary of State.”.’.

Mr Liam Byrne

Stephen Timms

Ms Karen Buck

Margaret Curran

Not called  274

Clause  128,  page  97,  line  16,  at end insert—

‘(3)
In section 6 of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008, after

subsection 2 insert—

“(2A)
Except in prescribed circumstances, the Secretary of State shall not levy

any fees on a parent whose income is below a prescribed level.”.’.

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 24 May 2011
68

Welfare Reform Bill, continued

Mr Liam Byrne

Stephen Timms

Ms Karen Buck

Margaret Curran

Not called  275

Clause  128,  page  97,  line  16,  at end insert—

‘(3)
In section 6, subsection 2(g) of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act

2008, after “fees”, insert “including, in particular, waiver of any fee where the

applicant has experienced domestic violence from the non-resident parent, which

may include physical, sexual, emotional and financial abuse.”.’.

Mr Liam Byrne

Stephen Timms

Ms Karen Buck

Margaret Curran

Negatived on division  277

Clause  128,  page  97,  line  16,  at end insert—

‘(3)
After section 1 of the Child Support Act 1991 insert—

“(1A)
The main objective of the Secretary of State, in applying the provisions

of this Act either directly or via the Commission shall be to maximise the

number of those children who live apart from one or both parents for

whom effective maintenance arrangements are in place.”.’.

Mr Liam Byrne

Stephen Timms

Ms Karen Buck

Margaret Curran

Not called  278

Clause  128,  page  97,  line  16,  at end insert—

‘(3)
Nothing in sections 129 to 131 of this Act shall cause the Commission to

undermine the objectives outline in section 2 of the Child Maintenance and Other

Payments Act 2008.’.

Mr Liam Byrne

Stephen Timms

Ms Karen Buck

Margaret Curran

Not called  279

Clause  128,  page  97,  line  16,  at end insert—

‘(3)
In section 9 subsection (3) of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act

2008, at end insert—

“(e)
the extent to which it is fulfilling its objectives as set out in

section 2 of this Act.”.’.

Mr Liam Byrne

Stephen Timms

Ms Karen Buck

Margaret Curran

Not called  289

Clause  128,  page  97,  line  16,  at end add—

‘(3)
In section 6 of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008, after

subsection (2) insert—

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 24 May 2011
69

Welfare Reform Bill, continued

“(2A)
The Secretary of State shall not levy on a parent with care any fee in

respect of submitting an application, except in prescribed

circumstances.”.’.

Clause Agreed to.

Mr Liam Byrne

Stephen Timms

Ms Karen Buck

Margaret Curran

Withdrawn  270

Clause  129,  page  97,  leave out lines 25 to 27 and insert—

‘(b)
the parent with care wishes to pursue child maintenance through the

Commission and states clearly the reasons why.’.

Mr Liam Byrne

Stephen Timms

Ms Karen Buck

Margaret Curran

Not called  271

Clause  129,  page  97,  line  27,  at end insert—

‘(c)
the parent with care advises the Commission that the collection service is

necessary to ensure either that child support maintenance is paid in

accordance with the calculation or to protect her or her children from

physical, sexual, emotional or financial abuse.’.

Clause Agreed to.

Mr Liam Byrne

Stephen Timms

Ms Karen Buck

Margaret Curran

Withdrawn  280

Clause  130,  page  98,  line  13,  at end insert—

‘(3A)
Where the non-resident parent has the ability to control the amount of income he

or she receives from a company or business, including earnings from employment

or self-employment, the indicative calculation in subsection (3) shall be made

taking into account all the income from that company or business, and on the

basis that section 11(7) applies.’.

Mr Liam Byrne

Stephen Timms

Ms Karen Buck

Margaret Curran

Not called  281

Clause  130,  page  98,  line  15,  at end insert—

‘(4A)
In notifying the applicant for an indicative calculation of the amount of child

support that would be fixed, the Commission shall also inform the applicant of

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 24 May 2011
70

Welfare Reform Bill, continued

the circumstances when a variation to the standard calculation can be made

including where the non-resident parent has the ability to control the amount of

income he receives from a company or business, including earnings from

employment or self-employment.’.

Mr Liam Byrne

Stephen Timms

Ms Karen Buck

Margaret Curran

Withdrawn  282

Clause  130,  page  98,  line  16,  leave out subsection (5).

Mr Liam Byrne

Stephen Timms

Ms Karen Buck

Margaret Curran

Withdrawn  283

Clause  130,  page  98,  line  23,  at end insert—

‘(6A)
Where a parent with care makes an application to the Commission under section

4 of the Act within three months of receipt of an indicative maintenance

calculation under this section, any application fee which would otherwise be

charged by the Commision shall be reduced by any amount paid by the parent

with care for the said indicative maintenance calculation.’.

Clause Agreed to.

Clauses 131 to 133 Agreed to.

Chris Grayling

Agreed to  100

Schedule  13,  page  146,  leave out line 29 and insert—

‘Section 6.

In section 7—

(a)
in the heading, the words “community

charge benefits and other”;

(b)
subsection (2), so far as not otherwise

repealed;

(c)
subsection (3)(b) and the preceding “and”.’

Chris Grayling

Agreed to  101

Schedule  13,  page  152,  leave out line 8

Chris Grayling

Agreed to  102

Schedule  13,  page  154,  line  32,  at end insert—

‘( )
in subsection (2)(a), “Part 1 of”;’.

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 24 May 2011
71

Welfare Reform Bill, continued

Chris Grayling

Agreed to  103

Schedule  13,  page  155,  line  3,  at end insert ‘and (4)’

Chris Grayling

Agreed to  104

Schedule  13,  page  155,  line  20,  at end insert ‘, so far as not otherwise repealed’

Chris Grayling

Agreed to  105

Schedule  13,  page  157,  line  28,  leave out ‘8(2A)’ and insert ‘8(2)(ca) and (d),

(2A)’

Chris Grayling

Agreed to  106

Schedule  13,  page  158,  line  10,  at end insert ‘and (7) and (8)’

Chris Grayling

Agreed to  107

Schedule  13,  page  158,  line  18,  at end insert—

‘(c)
the definition of “training”.’

Chris Grayling

Agreed to  108

Schedule  13,  page  158,  line  21,  leave out ‘and (b)’

Chris Grayling

Agreed to  109

Schedule  13,  page  158,  line  43,  leave out from beginning to end of line 44

Chris Grayling

Agreed to  110

Schedule  13,  page  163,  line  30,  second column, at beginning insert—

‘Section 7(2)(a).’

Schedule, as amended, Agreed to.

Clauses 134 and 135 Agreed to.

Chris Grayling

Agreed to  287

Clause  136,  page  100,  line  3,  at end insert—

‘( )
section [Recovery of fines etc by deductions from employment and

support allowance] (recovery of fines etc by deductions from

employment and support allowance) (but see section [Recovery of fines

etc by deductions from employment and support allowance](3));’.

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 24 May 2011
72

Welfare Reform Bill, continued

Chris Grayling

Maria Miller

Agreed to  290

Clause  136,  page  100,  line  21,  at end insert—

‘( )
section [Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission] and Schedule

[Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission] (Social Mobility and

Child Poverty Commission);’.

Clause, as amended, Agreed to.

Clause 137 Agreed to.

NEW CLAUSES

Information-sharing for prevention etc of tax credit fraud

Chris Grayling

Added  NC13

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
Section 122B of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 (supply of

government information for fraud prevention etc) is amended as follows.

(2)
In subsection (2)(a), after “social security” there is inserted “or tax credits”.

(3)
In subsection (3)—

(a)
in paragraph (b), after “1995” there is inserted “, the Tax Credits Act

2002”,

(b)
in that paragraph, the final “or” is repealed, and

(c)
after paragraph (c) there is inserted “or

(d)
it is supplied under section 121 of the Welfare Reform

Act 2011.”’

Recovery of fines etc by deductions from employment and support allowance

Chris Grayling

Added  NC14

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
In section 24 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 (recovery of fines etc by

deductions from benefits)—

(a)
in subsections (1) and (2)(d) the words “income-related” are repealed;

(b)
in subsection (4) the definition of “income-related employment and

support allowance” is repealed.

(2)
In Schedule 3 to the Welfare Reform Act 2007 (consequential amendments

relating to Part 1), paragraph 8(b) is repealed.

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 24 May 2011
73

Welfare Reform Bill, continued

(3)
The repeals made by this section have effect as if they had come into force on 27

October 2008.’.

Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission

Chris Grayling

Maria Miller

Added  NC17

To move the following Clause:—

‘Schedule (Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission) amends the Child

Poverty Act 2010 for the purpose of establishing the Social Mobility and Child

Poverty Commission.’.

Matters to be considered before the imposition of a sanction or penalty

Kate Green

Withdrawn  NC1

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
In respect of the imposition of a sanction under the Jobseeker’s Act 1995 or any

other provision or in the case of a penalty imposed under section 115C of the

Social Security Administration Act 1992 the Secretary of State or an authority

shall consider—

(a)
evidence of the physical condition of the claimant and his or her state of

health;

(b)
evidence of the psychological state of health of the claimant;

(c)
evidence relating to the means and income of the claimant;

(d)
evidence relating to the accommodation occupied by the claimant and the

effect that the imposition of a sanction or penalty may have on the right

to occupy such accommodation;

(e)
the family circumstances of the claimant and the impact that it may have

on other family members and dependants;

(f)
evidence of the impact that a sanction or penalty may have on the ability

of the claimant to fulfil obligations to third parties including those

relating to the fulfilment of benefit entitlement conditions.

(2)
Before deciding whether to impose a sanction or penalty and shall only do so

where, having considered all the relevant circumstances, it is reasonable to do so.

(3)
Regarding evidence as to means the Secretary of State must consider—

(a)
the income of the claimant;

(b)
the capital of the claimant;

(c)
the expenditure of the claimant.

(4)
In order to facilitate the enquiry into the matters set out in subsection (1) the

Secretary of State or authority may—

(a)
arrange for a medical examination of the claimant;



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