Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many referrals of child maintenance debtors to credit reference agencies have been made since March 2015.

The Department is committed to the policy of referring those defaulting on their child maintenance payments to credit reference agencies.

Following the change in legislation in March 2015, we have been working with the credit reference agencies to put in place a process to share liability order information. We are currently working with the credit reference agencies to negotiate a cost effective contract for this data service.

To date no liability order information has been shared, but it is CMG’s intention to do so as soon as possible.

As at 7^th November 2016 there are a total of 1,152 cases prepared and ready to share with credit reference agencies; we plan to disclose this information with credit reference agencies once an appropriate process is in place. In the interim we continue to issue warning letters to prompt action by non-resident parents to settle their arrears, and will where appropriate consider other enforcement actions on these cases.