APPG : Keeping Parliamentarians Informed :
Child Support, a Children’s Commissioner for England and Discipline in Schools

Since the last issue of the webmag the All Party Parliamentary Group for Children has held three meetings:

On 26 February Baroness Hollis of Heigham, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Work and Pensions, spoke to the Group about the implementation of the new child support arrangements and its implications for children.

The Department for Work and Pensions decided to go back to first principles to tackle problems within the Child Support Agency. Between 1992 and 1997 efforts were made to make the system fairer, and this meant that more factors were taken into account, leading to greater complexity. As the new arrangements are easier for staff to understand and calculate, claims should be processed within six weeks. The new child support arrangements operate using a three-step system:

• Calculation of the income of the non-resident parent, after tax, National Insurance and pension contributions (net weekly income)
• Deduction of allowance made for children living with him or her (15% of net income for one child, 20% for two children and 25% for three or more children)
• Calculation of liability

For non-resident parents who are on benefit, or who have a net weekly income of £100 or less, a flat rate of £5 per week applies. This not only provides money for the child and the knowledge that the non-resident parent supports them, but also establishes a pattern of compliance to ease the transition for the non-resident parent when they obtain employment.

The new child support arrangements came into force for new cases on 3 March 2003. Existing cases will be notified of the changes and these will be converted to the new system when the Secretary of State is satisfied that the system is working well, in approximately one year’s time. For some parents there will be a change in the amount of child support that they need to pay, and arrangements will be made for this change to be made gradually to ensure that difficulties for either the non-resident parent (who may need to pay more), or the parent with care (who may receive less money) are minimised.

A range of leaflets and information about the new child support arrangements can be found on the new Child Support Agency website at: http://www.csa.gov.uk/newcsaweb/index.htm

Information about the old child support arrangements, which will still be in place for existing cases for approximately one year, can be found at: http://www.csa.gov.uk/home.htm

On 4 March a joint seminar was held with the Associate Parliamentary Group for Parents and Families on ‘A Children's Commissioner for England - making a difference for children and families’. Approximately 150 people attended the seminar to hear Trond Waage, Children's Ombudsman for Norway and Peter Clarke, Children's Commissioner for Wales speak about their roles.

Contributions were also made by: Karen Gillon Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), who has been instrumental in the introduction of the Commissioner for Children and Young People Scotland Bill; Baroness May Blood who spoke about the Commissioner for Children and Young People (Northern Ireland) Order 2003, and the recruitment of a Northern Ireland Children’s Commissioner; and Veronica Plowden from the Children’s Rights Alliance for England, which has been campaigning for a Children’s Commissioner in England.

On 5 March, Ivan Lewis, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Young People and Adult Skills in the Department for Education and Skills, made a presentation to the Group on pupil behaviour and discipline in schools.

• Behaviour and attendance are central to the raising standards agenda, and are an integral part of children doing well at school, and schools delivering good quality education.

• The consequences of allowing the failure of too many children include unemployment or perpetual low pay, and anti-social and criminal behaviour. These children are the parents of the future, and their attitude to education will have an impact on their own children’s education and the communities in which they live. Breaking this cycle of disadvantage is a generational challenge.

• The Minister described interventions that the Government has introduced to tackle behaviour and discipline, and said that the problems that they seek to address have occurred over a long period of time, so generational change is needed, and these policies cannot be judged to have failed after only a few months or years. These included: Sure Start, resources targeted at Key Stage 3, National Behaviour and Attendance Strategy, targeted support for the 34 most challenging LEAs, Learning Support Units, school holiday activities, truancy sweeps, extended schools, Connexions, reform of the 14-19 curriculum, and full-time education for permanently excluded pupils.

• Where preventative and positive support fails to tackle truancy and parents do not cooperate, there should be consequences. There is a fast track prosecution process, where parents have 12 weeks to cooperate and work with professionals. If they do not, the case will be taken to court where the likely punishment would be a fine, or if the truanting has been occurring over a long period of time, a prison sentence. This ensures parental responsibility for the best interests of the child.

• New arrangements for Anti Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) will be going through Parliament soon to allow fixed penalty notices to be given by police, education welfare officers or headteachers to give parents who fail to ensure that their children attend school, a short, sharp shock. Local Education Authorities will also be able to apply for parenting orders to oblige parents to cooperate where parenting contracts have failed. The parenting order will require the parent to attend parenting classes or follow a particular course of action in the best interests of the child.

In summary the Government:

• Supports preventative work and resources at the frontline;

• Believes that there is a responsibility to support educationalists in terms of discipline and attendance;

• Believes that parents must be full partners in the process, and that it is not asking a great deal for parents to get their children to attend school;

• Believes that these proposals send the right message about rights and responsibilities in a civilised society.

Forthcoming meetings of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Children:

31 March – Anti-Social Behaviour (Louise Casey, Head of the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit)

28 April – Children at Risk Green Paper (The Rt Hon Paul Boateng MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury)

30 April - Three International organisations present their experiences working with orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV and Aids in developing countries (Joint meeting with APPG Aids)

13 May – Children and domestic violence (Joint meeting with APPG Domestic Violence)

Please contact Alison Linsey, Joint Clerk to the Group (email: alinsey@ncb.org.uk):

• To be added to the email mailing list to receive minutes and notices of meetings

• For copies of minutes from any of the meetings

• For a free copy of the Group’s report ‘Commitment to Children’

• For any further information about the Group