§ Q3. Mr. Dalyellasked the Prime Minister which Government Department has the task of tracing breadwinners of families who have been deserted.
§ The Prime MinisterIn England and Wales, when the courts request it, information is made available for this purpose from the central social security records and the records of the National Health Service, the Passport Office and the Ministry of Defence. Where families are in receipt of supplementary benefit the Supplementary Benefits Commission assists in tracing the person who is liable to maintain them. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary will shortly be writing to magistrates' courts advising them to make the fullest use of these facilities.
There are similar arrangements in Scotland and these are being brought to the attention of solicitors in Scotland.
§ Mr. DalyellThis may not be the most tactful day on which to raise the question of tracing people—[Interruption.] But, as the Prime Minister senses, there is on all sides of the House an intensified feeling that this is an urgent problem. Would he give a Prime Ministerial directive to Whitehall, in 616 anticipation of the Finer Committee report on the one-parent family, to work out the mechanics of the collection and payment of alimony in the light of what the right hon. Gentleman said?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not think it possible for me to anticipate the report of the Committee because I have no knowledge of what its recommendations will be. In the present situation I should have thought that the machinery I have outlined in a full answer and the fact that my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is to write to all the magistrates' courts—and in Scotland this matter will be handled through solicitors—will go a long way to meet the point made by the hon. Gentleman, who has taken an intense personal interest in this matter.
§ Mr. LongdenIs my right hon. Friend aware that, although these arrangements look well on paper, they are not working in practice? A large number of families are being maintained by the State simply because the breadwinner cannot—or will not—be traced?
§ The Prime MinisterIt is possible that there are cases in which, even with the use of all the available machinery it is not possible to trace the persons concerned, which I regret. On the other hand, we are going to the utmost lengths to enable people to be traced without giving away confidential information. From recent events which we discussed in the House last Tuesday, it must be apparent to all that there is a delicate dividing line between the provision of the information which will allow these problems to be dealt with and the withholding of information, in circumstances in which it would be quite wrong for personal details to be made available.