§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his oral statement of 29 November 1999,Official Report, column 5, if he will list the pieces of information which are currently required in order to assess liability for child maintenance; and if he will identify which of these will be required under his proposed reforms. [101036]
§ Angela EagleThe current child support formula requires a wide range of information to be obtained, not only about the financial and family circumstances of the parents involved but also about their new partners. This can include details of their income from earnings, benefits or other sources, housing costs (such as mortgages, rent, service charges, council tax, home improvement loans, property and loan insurance), travel to work costs and clean break property settlements.
The new child support rates will require information to be obtained only about the non-resident parent's income and the number of children for whom he is responsible. The definition of what is to count as income will also be considerably simplified as set out in Annexe Two of the White Paper "Children's Rights and Parent's Responsibilities" (Cm. 4349) published on 1 July 1999.
§ Mr. Hilary BennTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his written answer of 29 November 1999,Official Report, column 51W if the proposed amendment to Section 6(1) of the Child Support Act 1991 will apply in cases where a claim for income support or income-based jobseeker's allowance proves to be fraudulent. [101130]
§ Angela EagleAs now section 6(1) of the 1991 Act will apply where a parent with care claims or is paid Income Support or income based Jobseeker's Allowance. If the payment of benefit subsequently turns out to have been fraudulent, section 6(1) will only cease to apply when payments stop.