Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the value of child maintenance arrears that the Child Maintenance Service has been unable to recover in each of the last five years; and what steps he is taking to improve recovery of those arrears.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP publishes Child Maintenance Service official statistics every three months. Table 4 of the latest national tables shows the amount of unpaid maintenance due through Collect and Pay in each quarter from January 2015 to March 2026, while table 5 shows the cumulative amount due since the CMS began and the proportion remaining unpaid. 7% of the total maintenance due through Collect and Pay since the CMS began remains to be collected. All arrears are treated as collectable unless the receiving parent and/ or child in Scotland, asks CMS to cease action, or in limited circumstances where recovery is not possible.

As arrears are not owed to the Department but to the receiving parent, CMS does not classify debt as uncollectable and has not estimated the value of arrears that cannot be recovered.

CMS continues to pursue unpaid maintenance of all ages and takes enforcement action where appropriate based on a paying parent's ability to pay, which may vary over time. To improve recovery of arrears, CMS uses all available enforcement powers where necessary, including action through Service partners such as Enforcement Agents and, if necessary, to initiate sanctions through HMCTS to secure payment of outstanding child maintenance and ensure children receive the financial support to which they are entitled.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that the UK's protected bilateral ODA allocation for Palestine is reaching people in Gaza and the West Bank.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I draw the Hon. Member's attention to the Foreign Secretary's statement on 8 September. We continue to call on the Government of Israel to immediately lift restrictions and allow essential aid including medical supplies and fuel to reach those in desperate need, in line with international humanitarian law and as stipulated in the 20-Point Plan. We have protected our budget for Palestine and will be prioritising health, nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) through our integrated humanitarian programmes. We will continue to raise this with the Government of Israel. I saw our work with the Egyptian Red Crescent directly in Egypt last month, including the wider challenges facing humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

Reece Mckie

Appointment of Satty Singh as Army Honorary Colonel