§ Mr. BayleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will hold a public inquiry into the activities and performance of the Child Support Agency.
§ Mr. IngramTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will place in the Library a copy of the Child Support Agency collection enforcement manual.
§ Mr. IngramTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will place in the Library the departmental guidelines issued to the Child Support Agency specialist tracing section.
§ Mr. BurtThe guidance on specialist tracing is contained within the "Child Support Manual", a copy of which is in the Library.
§ Mr. DewarTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) in how many cases in the latest period for which figures are available there has been a refusal by the parent with care to supply information about the absent parent; and in how many of these cases the Child Support Agency accepted that co-operation had been refused with good cause;
(2) what is his estimate of the arrears outstanding on maintenance payments set by the Child Support Agency both in total and as a percentage of the total amount to be paid;
(3) in how many cases in the latest period for which figures are available the Child Support Agency has adjusted a maintenance assessment to allow for the recovery of arrears under paragraph 10 of the arrears regulations;
(4) what estimate he has made of the average weekly maintenance assessment set by the Child Support Agency at the latest date for which figures are available;
(5) what is the average time between the issue of the inquiry form, and the maintenance assessment, at the latest date for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Burt[holding answer 1 February 1994]: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
835WLetter from Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Donald Dewar, dated 2 February 1994.
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security, asking various questions about the Child Support Agency's operations.
At 31 December 1993, 35,600 cases had been received where the requirement to co-operate with the Agency was an issue. In 20,500 of these the Agency accepted that the parent with care had good cause not to co-operate in pursuing a maintenance application.
Initial estimates were that average weekly maimtenance assessments would be approximately £45–50. Information gathered on assessments completed to date is consistent with these estimates.
The Agency is not yet in a position to estimate the arrears outstanding on maintenance payments. I regret, also, that information on cases in which Regulation 10 of the Arrears Regulations has been applied is not collected.
Information on the length of time between the return of the maintenance enquiry form and the completion of the maintenance assessment is not regularly collected in the form requested. From a small sample of cases it is estimated that the average time between the issue of the maintenance enquiry form and the maintenance assessment is approximately 7 weeks.
I hope you find this reply useful.
§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what savings the Child Support Agency has made to date.
§ Mr. Burt[holding answer 1 February 1994]: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Donald Dewar, dated 2 February 1994:
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking how much of the Child Support Agency's target has been collected to date.
For the period from April 1993 to December 1993, benefit savings of £214.5 million have so far been reported. This figure does not represent the total amount of savings achieved because some will be scored retrospectively.
I hope you find this reply helpful.