§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proposals he has to introduce attachment of earnings orders from the Child Support Agency to serving and other personnel employed by his Department. [8913]
§ Mr. IngramUnder child support legislation, the Child Support Agency is able to request that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) implement deductions from the pay of both service and civilian personnel to meet child support maintenance payments. In the case of service personnel these are known as Deductions of Earnings Requests. These are effectively the same as Attachment of Earnings Orders which the Child Support Agency uses to obtain payment from 'non-resident parents' within the population at large, including MOD civil servants.
From the introduction of the legislation in 1993 it has been the MOD's policy to comply with all such requests, other than in exceptional circumstances. The MOD maintains a Memorandum of Understanding with the Child Support Agency which details the administrative procedures to be followed by both Departments when contacting service personnel. A copy is held in the Library of the House.