I had hoped to serve as a member of the Select Committee that considered the Bill, but for reasons best known to itself, the Whips' Office did not invite me to do so. I want to ask the Minister questions on clauses 14 and 15, which are concerned with deductions from pay in respect of maintenance liabilities.

Are clauses 14 and 15 compatible with the provisions of the Child Support Bill? I remind the Minister that clause 1 of that Bill sets out the duty of parents to maintain those of their children who are qualified children for the purposes of the Bill. It provides that where a parent is not living with a child, that duty is to be considered discharged by the making of periodic payments determined in accordance with the Bill's provisions.

Clause 4 of the Child Support Bill establishes the right of a person either having the care of a child or the absent parent to apply to the Secretary of State for a maintenance assessment. On Second Reading of the Child Support Bill, my hon. Friend the Member for Falkirk, East (Mr. Ewing) asked the Secretary of State for Social Services: Can the right hon. Gentleman tell me whether the Army Acts lay down that a commanding officer of a serving soldier has the right to set aside a court maintenance order if he thinks that the man concerned does not have enough income to meet it?Is the Secretary of State aware that I have been dealing with a constituency case in which the sheriff court in Falkirk made a child maintenance order but, because the absent parent happens to be a serving soldier, his commanding officer has time and again set aside the court order, and there is nothing that the mother of the two children concerned can do about it?"—[Official Report, 4 June 1991; Vol. 192, c. 187.] If that is the case, that is an appalling state of affairs. Can the Minister confirm that clauses 14 and 15 of the Armed Forces Bill are compatible with the legal provisions of the Child Support Bill?