Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has of how many people eligible for Child Support payments end up being in rent arrears when the payer is self-employed.

The Government believes parents are best able to make decisions over how they manage their finances to support their children so we do not collect data on how child maintenance is spent including whether it is used for rent. We also do not collect data on families in rental arrears. We expect parents no matter their employment type to support their children and will take robust action where non-payment of maintenance is reported to re-establish payment as soon as possible.