Govenrment Bill published 06.06.2007. A Bill to establish the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission; to amend the law relating to child support; to make provision about lump sum payments to or in respect of persons with diffuse mesothelioma. Explanatory notes to the Bill, prepared by the Department for Education and Skills, will be published separately as Bill 118-EN
Legislative Scrutiny : 1) Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill; 2) other bills, third report of session 2007-08, report, together with formal minutes and Appendices
This report from the Joint Committee of Human Rights (HLP 72/HCP 132, ISBN 9780104012468) examines issues surrounding data protection and human rights, particularly in relation to the recent loss of data by government departments. Personal data should be handled in accordance with the Data Protection Act (PGA 1998 chp. 29, ISBN 9780105429982), whilst the Human Rights Act (PGA 1998 chp. 42, ISBN 9780105442981) safeguards the right to respect personal information. The Committee has expressed concern about the recent lapses in the protection of data in particular where the sharing of information takes place, and that such sharing needs to be justifiable and appropriate. The Committee fundamentally disagrees with the Government's approach about data protection and does not agree that the two Acts offer sufficient protection, and that further primary legislation is needed to make clear the importance of data protection inside and outside government. The Committee also states that the recent lapses are indicative of a symptomatic failure within government to safeguard personal data and that human rights are far from being a mainstream consideration in Government department's. The Committee states that Government needs to set out proposals to rectify this situation. The Committee supports the extension of the Information Commissioner's powers to defend human rights, but expresses regret that it has taken the loss of personal data affecting 25 million people for the Government to take the issue of personal data more seriously. For a related publication, see (HCP 154, session 2007-08, Protection of private data, ISBN 9780215037923).
The proportion of children living in households headed by single women is more than one in five. There is concern (and some evidence) that children of single parents are less likely to be successful adults. The book discusses the trends in public debate about this problem. In particular, it examines the issue of providing public assistance to such families and whether doing so fosters long-term welfare dependency.
This work provides a clear introduction to family law, giving concise coverage of major undergraduate topics, such as civil partnership, domestic violence, divorce and the role of the state in children's upbringing.
Around half of all children in the UK from separated families are being brought up in poverty. In 2010-11 the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission collected and transferred £1.1 billion to parents caring for more than 880,000 children. Nevertheless significant, all too familiar and recurring challenges remain: parents are frustrated with the standard of support received from the Commission. Maintenance payments totalling some £3.7 billion are outstanding, but the Commission estimates that only £1 billion of this is collectable; and costs remain high. The Commission also faces further significant challenges in introducing its new child maintenance scheme. In particular, it will need to respond to substantial cost reductions and successfully implement a new system of charging fees to parents who choose to use the Commission's services. The Commission needs to deliver acceptable standards of service at a reasonable cost. The new child maintenance scheme should improve efficiency, but further changes are needed to streamline existing processes. The Commission has to deliver cost reductions of £117 million by 2014-15 and its plans are currently £16 million short of this target. Its cost reduction plans depend in part on a new IT system which is already late. To meet the current timetable critical testing will have to be undertaken in parallel with development work, mirroring poor practices that have contributed to the failure of a number of government IT projects. Each month of delay will increase the Commission's costs by at least £3 million and may delay planned income from fees.
