Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 1
1
Rejected
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...
Conclusion
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Work & Pensions (the Department) about child maintenance in Great Britain.1 We also received and considered written evidence from individuals and organisations from within the sector.
Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation, stating that the Department for Work and Pensions (the department) has a clear interest in how child maintenance is integrated into wider government policy, and it intends to continue to discharge this working with other government departments.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. The Department for Work and Pensions (the department) has a clear interest in how child maintenance is integrated into wider government policy, and it intends to continue to discharge this working with other government departments. The department recognises the importance of working with other departments and across boundaries to tackle cross-cutting issues. For example, the department leads a cross- government forum to coordinate work on reducing parental conflict, which aims to improve outcomes for children by supporting parents to improve their relationship. In addition, the department’s ministers are working across government and meet regularly to discuss childcare issues and the department is in the process of facilitating linkages with child maintenance related issues. As part of ongoing policy development, the department is already engaged in broader cross government work on families. This includes the department’s ongoing involvement in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) Supporting Families Programme, and joint work between Reducing Parental Conflict and Department for Education (DfE) Family Hubs. Further activity includes support for Ministry of Justice’s (MOJ) work on alternative dispute resolution and embedding information about child maintenance into key touchpoints during the separated family journey. Individual circumstances for separated parents are often extremely complex. Other government departments such as DfE, MoJ and DLUHC lead on various programmes to support separated families. The department already publishes an annual measure of the proportion of families with a child maintenance arrangement and will continue to do so.