HC Deb 02 June 1997 vol 295 cc13-4
12. Mr. John Cryer

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when she will undertake a review of the workings of the Child Support Agency. [886]

Mr. Keith Bradley

The Government believe that children are entitled to the financial support and, ideally, the emotional support of both parents, wherever the parents may live. In the coming months, we will carefully examine how to ensure that the Child Support Agency provides an efficient and effective service to assess and collect due maintenance.

Mr. Cryer

I am very grateful for that answer. Is it not clear, however, that the Child Support Agency is simply not working? It is not working because it was incompetently established by the previous Government so that they could subsidise their own spending.

Mr. Bradley

I welcome my hon. Friend to the House, and I thank him for his question. Hon. Members on both sides of the House have criticised the way in which the Child Support Agency was established, the way in which legislation on it was passed and the way in which the agency has subsequently been administered. I am pleased to say, however, that the CSA is working more efficiently. The number of assessments is now up to 580,000, and the percentage of those partially or fully compliant has risen to 64 per cent. I should stress to my hon. Friend and to all hon. Members who are critical of the CSA that, in the coming months, we will conduct a review of the agency, and that we will subsequently announce further proposals.

Mr. Forsythe

On behalf of my colleagues, I welcome the Minister and his colleagues to the Dispatch Box and wish them well.

Will the hon. Gentleman concede that the CSA has been responsible for causing more dissension between former partners than anything else? Will the Government please examine the whole system and take into account the recommendations of the previous Select Committee on Social Security? It proposed a single sum per child rather than the formula that is considered ridiculous by many people and that, I believe, cannot be understood by those who implement it, and certainly not by those who pay or receive payment?

Mr. Bradley

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman's comments. I am aware of his excellent work as a member of the Select Committee and of the Committee's invaluable reports on this topic. I am also aware of the problems caused by the complexity of the formula, which I assure him will be considered in great detail in our review of the CSA.