Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance Service in ensuring its processes remain gender‑neutral.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) aims to provide a high-quality service to all of its customers. The CMS treats parents equally as individuals based on their roles within the scheme and makes no reference to gender. The Department has a specific duty to assess the impact of its policies and processes, and any changes to them on equality grounds to ensure it meets its obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

The CMS proactively invests in developing, reviewing, and improving support tools and training materials to help staff deliver quality customer service. Caseworkers receive training and appropriate guidance on how to make decisions on the CMS’s behalf and are required to follow guidance and apply the law to the facts of a case.