I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Burt, for raising the important issue of child maintenance, which we recognise is of particular importance to many families across the UK. As the Government outlined in their position paper published in August last year, we are seeking a comprehensive future agreement with the EU on civil judicial co-operation that is based on the substance of the current EU regulations, including the maintenance regulation. I stress again that the precise nature of this relationship will be a matter for negotiation.
However, I assure the House that the Government are committed to working with our EU partners to agree the most effective rules in this area which reflect our close existing relationship on this important issue. This approach will provide confidence and certainty to families and individuals, ensuring they can continue to enforce cross-border maintenance orders efficiently and effectively in the future. As both noble Baronesses, Lady Burt and Lady Sherlock, rightly said, these orders are hugely important to the families involved.
Midnight
Going back to the purpose of the amendment, the report specified by the amendment requires the Government to publish details of future co-operation with the EU on child maintenance claims and how these will replicate mechanisms which exist within the EU, as well as enabling data sharing in relation to such matters, within one month of this Bill receiving Royal Assent and subsequently every year thereafter. This deadline makes no reference to the position of the negotiations between the UK and the EU at the stage of the Bill receiving Royal Assent; neither does it acknowledge the other documents the Government will be publishing on this subject.
As the Government have previously advised the House, those documents will include not only the final agreement reached in negotiations but explanatory memoranda on any amendments that Ministers make to retained EU law using powers in the Bill, including retained family law. Again, any agreement between the UK and the EU will be detailed within the withdrawal agreement and legislated for within the upcoming withdrawal agreement and implementation Bill, which Parliament will be able to scrutinise fully and vote on.
I believe that this amendment presents an unnecessary burden to the Government at this crucial stage in the EU exit process. For these reasons, I ask the noble Baroness, Lady Burt, to withdraw the amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy. I should make it clear that the Government will not reflect further on this issue between now and Third Reading, so if she wishes to test the opinion of the House, it would be appropriate to do that now.