Govenrment Bill published 06.06.2007. A Bill to establish the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission; to amend the law relating to child support; to make provision about lump sum payments to or in respect of persons with diffuse mesothelioma. Explanatory notes to the Bill, prepared by the Department for Education and Skills, will be published separately as Bill 118-EN

The proportion of children living in households headed by single women is more than one in five. There is concern (and some evidence) that children of single parents are less likely to be successful adults. The book discusses the trends in public debate about this problem. In particular, it examines the issue of providing public assistance to such families and whether doing so fosters long-term welfare dependency.

Legislative Scrutiny : 1) Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill; 2) other bills, third report of session 2007-08, report, together with formal minutes and Appendices

This report from the Joint Committee of Human Rights (HLP 72/HCP 132, ISBN 9780104012468) examines issues surrounding data protection and human rights, particularly in relation to the recent loss of data by government departments. Personal data should be handled in accordance with the Data Protection Act (PGA 1998 chp. 29, ISBN 9780105429982), whilst the Human Rights Act (PGA 1998 chp. 42, ISBN 9780105442981) safeguards the right to respect personal information. The Committee has expressed concern about the recent lapses in the protection of data in particular where the sharing of information takes place, and that such sharing needs to be justifiable and appropriate. The Committee fundamentally disagrees with the Government's approach about data protection and does not agree that the two Acts offer sufficient protection, and that further primary legislation is needed to make clear the importance of data protection inside and outside government. The Committee also states that the recent lapses are indicative of a symptomatic failure within government to safeguard personal data and that human rights are far from being a mainstream consideration in Government department's. The Committee states that Government needs to set out proposals to rectify this situation. The Committee supports the extension of the Information Commissioner's powers to defend human rights, but expresses regret that it has taken the loss of personal data affecting 25 million people for the Government to take the issue of personal data more seriously. For a related publication, see (HCP 154, session 2007-08, Protection of private data, ISBN 9780215037923).

These notes refer to the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008 (c. 6) (ISBN 9780105406082) which received Royal Assent on 5 June 2008

Committee of Public Accounts treasury minutes are on the following reports: HCP 113, 06/07, 27th report (ISBN 9780215034311); HCP 179, 06/07, 28th report (ISBN 9780215034373); HCP 142, 06/07, 29th report (ISBN 9780215034304); HCP 189, 06/07, 30th report (ISBN 9780215034489); HCP 309, 06/07, 31st report (ISBN 9780215034496); HCP 91, 06/07, 32nd report (ISBN 9780215034571); HCP 275, 06/07 33rd report (ISBN 9780215034786); HCP 43, 06/07, 34th report (ISBN 9780215034830); HCP 729, 06/07, 36th report (ISBN 9780215034823); HCP 812, 06/07, 37th report (ISBN 9780215034878); HCP 261, 06/07, 38th report (ISBN 9780215034991); HCP 377, 06/07, 39th report (ISBN 9780215034922); HCP 368, 06/07, 40th report (ISBN 9780215035066); HCP 892, 06/07, 43rd report (ISBN 9780215035172); HCP 246, 06/07, 44th report (ISBN 9780215035271); HCP 250, 06/07, 45th report (ISBN 9780215035387)