Oral Answers to Questions

Kieran Mullan Excerpts

Monday 24th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Tom Pursglove]

I am always very happy to meet colleagues from across the House to discuss such issues, and this circumstance is no different.

[Dr Kieran Mullan (Crewe and Nantwich) (Con)]

T8. We must do more to tackle delinquent parents who do not pay child maintenance. When can we expect the home curfew powers to come into effect, and how many people do we expect to be subject to them?

[Mims Davies]

Enforcement action is used as a last resort when a parent is failing to pay their maintenance payments and other action has failed. Home detention is a powerful deterrent and, as such, we would expect usage to be low—perhaps less than 10 cases a year on average. I know that my hon. Friend focuses on this matter. The Child Maintenance Service continues to explore how existing powers can be used to encourage compliant behaviours and facilitate constructive relationships between parents to ensure that, importantly, financial support reaches the children for whom they are responsible.