Children: Contact with Fathers

Debate between Lord Elystan-Morgan and Lord Freud

Thursday 13th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Freud]

Well, my Lords, there being very few males in primary schools is an important point, although clearly one off my brief. It is a valuable point which needs to be looked at.

[Lord Elystan-Morgan]

Does the Minister accept that for every case where a man is deprived of access by the courts to his child, there will be at least 20 cases where a father has no interest whatever in the upbringing of those children? Whereas no human agency can force a man to love, respect and be responsible for his children, it is nevertheless a human tragedy of such immense proportions as to demand the urgent action of government. Is there a specific plan that the Government are prepared to consider, and will they consider giving it ample and adequate resources?

[Lord Freud]

My Lords, we are clearly talking about fundamental social trends which have been going on for many decades. There are two ways of looking at family breakdown: in some ways it is a liberation, and in some ways it is an unnecessary tragedy when you have children involved. Clearly, we have various prevention measures, a fund to get counselling practitioners trained and support for people so that when they separate, that separation is as amicable as possible.

Credit Unions

Debate between Lord Elystan-Morgan and Lord Freud

Thursday 2nd February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Freud]

Yes, my Lords, credit unions are local organisations. It is very important that social units in the locality help them. Just as important as local authorities are social housing groups. There are already 20 such groups working with credit unions, which is very important.

[Lord Elystan-Morgan]

Does the Minister agree that the situation is acute because needy people must be kept out of the clutches of loan sharks? I appreciate that successive Governments have shown great good will in this matter. Will he study the situation in the Republic of Ireland, where, as he said, some 50 per cent of personal credit is represented by credit unions? In New Zealand and Canada the figure is between 20 and 22 per cent. Will he take those systems very much into account and do something that involves a substantial injection of public money into this investment?

[Lord Freud]

My Lords, we have made clear that we are prepared to support this industry, but we are determined to support it in such a way that it becomes viable in the long term. We are attacking illegal loans, which are coming down a bit. There are various supports for poorer people, such as payday loans, rent-to-buy and home credit. It is a very complicated picture, but we are determined to push this new factor as hard as we can.