Stephen leads a debate on the Child Maintenance Service

Today in Parliament, Stephen led a debate on the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), following a report by his committee on its flaws and possible improvements last April. The CMS works out when and how much parents should pay to support their child when they are separated. Parents can reach private arrangements that are not supervised by the CMS, or the CMS can calculate how much is owed and enforce payment. Last April, Stephen's committee published a report criticising the CMS. They were concerned that the CMS had no data to prove it was increasing the number of payment arrangements between parents and noted that the payments calculated by the CMS are often unaffordable for parents. The report made several recommendations to improve the service. Today in Parliament, Stephen led a debate to follow up on that report and ask the Government what steps it is taking to improve the service.