§ Mr. Garel-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what plans he has to review the arrangements concerning the liability of certain individuals to maintain others for whom supplementary benefit is paid.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe supplementary benefits review report "Social Assistance" listed the liability of relatives as one of the subjects to be looked at at a later stage when the overhaul of the basic scheme had been completed. That stage has been reached with the introduction of the revised scheme from 24 November.
At present the Supplementary Benefits Act imposes a liability upon spouses to maintain one another and on parents to maintain their children under the age of 16. My right hon. Friend is empowered to seek maintenance orders in magistrates' courts, or in the sheriff court in Scotland, and there is also a power of criminal prosecution for persistent refusal or neglect to maintain. These provisions generally enable cases to be dealt with satisfactorily.
The principles for bringing to account maintenance payments received by supplementary benefit recipients have been scrutinised as part of the main review and the rules have recently been published in the Supplementary Benefit (Resources) Regulations (SI 1980 No. 1300). No further change is contemplated at present.
In these circumstances my right hon. Friend has decided that it would not be appropriate for the DHSS to conduct a wide-ranging review of the principles of liability, though we do not, of course, rule out changes in the law if the need arises. There is evidence, however, that there is scope for improving the Department's administrative procedures in relation to the recovery of benefit from relatives who are liable to repay it—in most cases men living apart from their wives and children. I have arranged for a thorough examination of all these procedures to be carried out.