Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the Child Maintenance Service's powers to allow it to compel information from non-resident parents.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) already has measures in place to compel non-resident parents to provide information including bank details, address and income details.

The Service can also compel third parties such as employers, financial institutions, HMRC, local authorities and other government departments to provide information, where appropriate.

While the Service always keep such powers under review, we have no plans to further enhance CMS information gathering powers.