Oral Answers to Questions

Marion Fellows Excerpts

Wednesday 26th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I remember the conversation with my hon. Friend after this terrible tragedy involving his father-in-law. I will certainly ensure that Ministers from the proper Department sit down with him to explore this issue.

[Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)]

Q13. Figures released today show that £973 million of arrears are currently owed under the Child Maintenance Service. Although the new enforcement powers are welcome, CMS’s bark continues to be worse than its bite. The UK Government must clamp down on the non-payment of child maintenance, and they must do it now. Will the Prime Minister agree to launch a full root-and-branch review of CMS to ensure that we have a new strategy, in which maintenance payments are properly enforced, to lift these children who, in many cases, are in poverty due to a lack of maintenance payments?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady is right that we want to ensure maintenance payments are made for those children. Normally the payments are made by fathers but, in some cases, they can be made by mothers, and we need to make sure they recognise their responsibilities and take them seriously. This is a difficult area. For many years, efforts have been made by different Governments to ensure that we get this right and that maintenance payments are made.

I am sure every Member has had constituency cases in relation to this issue. The simplified system introduced in recent years has been working better than the previous system, but I will ensure the relevant Department looks at this issue.