MPs target absent parent payments

3 July 2011 Last updated at 08:46 GMT A group of MPs have called for absent parents to make child maintenance payments taken directly from their salaries or bank accounts

Non-resident parents should make their child maintenance payments directly from their salaries or bank accounts, a committee of MPs has recommended.

They found the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission cost 50p for every ?1 it collected and had failed to collect ?3.8bn in payments due.

The Work and Pensions Committee called on the government to make the child support system more efficient.

The commission replaced the much-criticised Child Support Agency.

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We think if CMEC is going to be able to chase down runaway dads then they have to have all the powers necessary”

End Quote Anne Begg MP The committee found that many separated parents did not receive regular maintenance for their children and in some cases did not get payments at all.

Officials can take money directly from those who fall behind but the committee said direct payments from bank accounts or salaries should be required in all cases.

The government has said it wants to encourage separated parents to come to their own voluntary arrangements.

But its plans to charge a fee and call in officials to collect the payments of couples who cannot reach such an agreement were criticised by the MPs.

They also said the new agency still had operational weaknesses.

'Obligation'

Committee chairman Anne Begg said the current system could easily be improved.

She told the BBC: "There are many non-resident parents who already set up a mechanism, usually direct debit, to make sure their children get the money that they're entitled to.

"What we want to see is this widened so that everyone has an obligation to make sure there is some payment in process which is regular."

The Work and Pensions Committee is also calling on the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC) to be given the power to remove the passports and driving licences of absent parents who persistently avoid making child maintenance payments.

"The date hasn't been set as to when those powers come into effect, and we just say they should make sure they do come into effect," said Ms Begg.

"Not that they should be used regularly, but we think if CMEC is going to be able to chase down runaway dads then they have to have all the powers necessary."

A Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman acknowledged the agency was not working well enough for children and said the government would give its full response in due course.

Fiona Weir, the chief executive of single parent charity Gingerbread, said she supported the committee's recommendations.

"This report provides a timely and comprehensive critique of the government's proposals, and we expect ministers to heed its recommendations as they finalise future plans for child maintenance," she said.

Last month, Prime Minister David Cameron said absent fathers should be "stigmatised" by society in the same way as drink-drivers.

However, he was criticised by Gingerbread, which said government proposals to charge people in need of state help to obtain child maintenance payments would make life harder for single parents.

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Target migration cut 'unlikely'

21 June 2011 Last updated at 00:41 GMT The Migration Observatory said reforms will leave net migration at about 165,000 by 2015 Government plans to cut net migration to the "tens of thousands" by 2015 are likely to fail, a report has found.

Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May have pledged to reduce net migration from the current 242,000 to less than 100,000 people.

But immigration system reforms will leave net migration at about 165,000 by 2015, according to analysis by Oxford University's Migration Observatory.

Immigration minister Damian Green repeated the government's pledge.

The government is attempting to reduce the net immigration level in four ways: reducing labour immigration, student immigration and family immigration from outside the EU; and making it harder for migrants to settle in the UK - encouraging greater outflows, the Migration Observatory said.

It said government figures show changes to work and student visas are expected to cut net migration by a respective 11,000 and 56,000 people by 2015.

The Migration Observatory also found that changes to family visas will cut the numbers by 8,000 at most, while plans to make it harder for migrants to settle in the UK are unlikely to reduce migration flows until 2016.

'Disarray'

Dr Scott Blinder, senior researcher at the observatory, said: "The government's current policies only look likely to reduce net migration by about 75,000 at best, which would mean that further reductions of more than 67,000 would be needed to meet the 'tens-of-thousands' net migration target."

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This government will tackle abuse of the system and get net migration reduced back down to the tens of thousands in the lifetime of this parliament”

End Quote Damian Green Immigration minister To achieve the target, the government will either have to further tighten immigration rules or "reconsider the target or the timeframe in which they intend to deliver it", Dr Blinder said.

The government could also hope that more British and EU nationals emigrate from the UK or that current assessments are "way off the mark". But these two options are "pretty unlikely", he added.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the report showed that the government has "no workable policies" to meet its promise and that its immigration policy was in "complete disarray".

She went on: "Last week we learnt that their changes to the student visas system would cost the UK economy ?2.4bn and would still only have half the impact on net migration that they promised.

"Recent reports also show the government is failing to ensure the UK Border Agency has the resources it needs to effectively enforce immigration rules, with 5,000 cuts in staff and no chief executive in place after five months.

"At the heart of their policies is chaos, confusion, rows between ministers and misleading measures which will fail to properly safeguard both the economy and the UK's borders," she said.

Responding to the report, Immigration minister Damian Green said the immigration system had been allowed to get out of control for too long.

"This government will tackle abuse of the system and get net migration reduced back down to the tens of thousands in the lifetime of this parliament," he said.

On Monday, Mr Cameron said the Liberal Democrats were preventing the Tories from taking tougher action on immigration.

"We've all had to make compromises," he told BBC Radio 2's Steve Wright.

"If I was running a Conservative-only government I think we would be making further steps on things like immigration control or making sure that our welfare reforms were absolutely making sure that if you're not prepared to work you can't go on welfare.

"I think we'd be tougher than that. We make compromises, we make agreements, but as a government I think we're delivering a lot of good things for the country," he said.

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Huhne to reveal emissions target

17 May 2011 Last updated at 10:32 GMT Chris Huhne will make a statement to MPs on the carbon budget Chris Huhne is to set out plans to cut carbon emissions in half by 2027 and change the way Britain produces energy.

The energy secretary - who is at the centre of a storm over claims he asked someone close to him to take speeding points for him - will unveil the UK's fourth "carbon budget" in the Commons.

He reportedly won a battle with Lib Dem colleague Vince Cable over the targets amid fears they will hurt the economy.

But they could include an "opt-out" if EU competitors fail on similar aims.

'Prime minister intervention'

The 2027 targets follow recommendations from the government's official advisory body, the Committee on Climate Change.

It has urged the UK to accept a global agreement roughly equating to an emissions cut of 50% - based on 1990 levels - by 2025.

The 2027 target, which is expected to be similar, forms part of reaching a longer-term aim of a 60% reduction by 2030.

Continue reading the main story Richard Black Environment correspondent

Tuesday's announcement will make the UK the first country in the world to have declared a "legally binding" target on greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2020.

The set of five-yearly carbon budgets maps out the stages the UK should go through on the way to its long-term goal of cutting emissions by 80% by 2050.

There are many different pathways the country could take - the Committee on Climate Change, which recommends these budgets to government, sets out what it sees as the most economic route.

The business lobby has secured some concessions on the basis that the UK could lose competitiveness to its EU partners, as its emissions are now more tightly constrained.

One big question is whether these concessions materially affect the strength of the target itself.

But the budget's adoption should give extra confidence to companies wanting to invest in low-carbon energy.

A leaked letter last week exposed a row between Mr Huhne and Business Secretary Vince Cable over the proposed targets.

Prime Minister David Cameron was reported to have intervened on the side of Mr Huhne after Mr Cable reportedly complained that the "too aggressive" targets would "burden" the UK economy.

As it emerged the Lib Dem ministers were apparently at loggerheads, a coalition of environmental groups issued a warning to Mr Cameron that he risked seriously undermining his pledge to lead the "greenest government ever" if he did not back the targets.

Labour leader Ed Miliband also seized on the evidence of internal disagreement, writing to the prime minister to say failing to agree them would send "a terrible signal" to business and the rest of the world.

Higher prices

Foreign Secretary William Hague put the case for strong carbon targets to keep up with countries like China in the move towards low-carbon energy, and to retain the UK's international moral leadership on the issue.

However, the BBC understands that the UK's main energy-using industries have secured key concessions from the government to ease the impact of higher electricity prices.

But consumer watchdog Which? has expressed concern that domestic customers will not be similarly shielded from price rises.

The Committee on Climate Change has forecast that to meet emissions targets the average household fuel bill will go up by ?1 a week until 2020 when it will plateau out with no major rises after that.

Greenpeace has described the agreement as "rare victory for the green growth agenda" in the face of what it said was "vehement" opposition from the Treasury and the Department of Business.

But Friends of the Earth said Mr Huhne should have gone further and accepted advice to tighten the UK's existing 34% emissions reduction target, by 2020, to compensate for the cuts already achieved due to the recession.

A Department of Energy source defended the government's handling of the issue, arguing that it would be wrong to pre-empt discussions under way in the EU and the UK was still arguing to increase the EU 2020 target from 20% to 30%.

Mr Huhne will make a statement on the carbon budget to the Commons at around 1630 BST.

The plans were originally to be announced in a written ministerial statement, a move which had drawn criticism from Opposition MPs.

Shadow climate change secretary Meg Hillier had said it would "beggar belief" if Mr Huhne did not make a statement to the House on such a key issue - and claimed he might be a "bit afraid" to face MPs.

He is currently at the centre of media storm over allegations, being investigated by police, that he asked his someone close to him to take speeding points for him in 2003.

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