§ Mr. DewarTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many appeals against decisions of child support officers have been registered by the Independent Tribunal Service; and how many have been heard, broken down by area.
§ Mr. BurtThe administration of the Child Support Agency is the responsibility of its chief executive, Ros Hepplewhite. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Donald Dewar, dated 17 February 1994:
I am replying to your recent Paliamentary Questions asking about the number of appeals against Child Support assessments.I understand from the Independent Tribunal Service that, to the end of January 1994, a total of 611 appeals had been lodged. Of these, 82 cases had been heard by the Child Support Appeal Tribunal. I attach a breakdown of these figures below:
Number Midlands 11 North East 17 North West 8 Scotland 14 South East 26 Wales and South West 6 I hope you find this reply useful.
§ Mr. DewarTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what is the average time taken by the Child Support Agency to perform reviews when the client disagrees with the original child support officer's decision, broken down by area CSAC;
(2) how many parents with care have applied to the Child Support Agency pursuant to (a)section 4 and (b)section 6 of the Child Support Act 1991;
(3) of the child maintenance assessments completed to date by the Child Support Agency what proportion are (a)nil or (b)minimum assessments, and what proportion are interim assessments;
(4) what is the average time being taken by the Child Support Agency to perform reviews of assessments following a change of circumstances broken down by area CSAC.
§ Mr. BurtThe administration of the Child Support Agency is the responsibility of its chief executive, Ros Hepplewhite. She will write to the hon. Member.
977WLetter from Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Donald Dewar, dated 17 February 1994:
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Questions about the Child Support Agency's operations.In the period 5 April 1993 to 31 December 1993, the Agency issued 711,000 maintenance application forms. Of these, 686,000 were issued in cases where the parent with care was in receipt of income support, family credit, or disability working allowance, and 25,000 were issued in cases where the parent with care was not receiving benefit.In the period from 5 April 1993 to 31 December 1993, the Agency completed 121,600 maintenance assessments, of which 41,000 were interim assessments, and 28,800 were nil assessments, or assessments where the absent parent is liable to pay the minimum amount of £2.20.You have also asked for a breakdown of the time taken to perform a review where there has been a change of circumstances, and where a client disagrees with the original child support officer's decision. During the first months of the Agency's operations, the volume of work in these areas was relatively low. Although volumes have risen in recent months, it is too early for reliable information to be available.I hope you find this reply useful.
§ Mr. ChannonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will instruct the Child Support Agency not to telephone its clients at work without prior consent.
§ Mr. BurtThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to my right hon. Friend.
Letter from Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Paul Channon dated 16 February 1994:
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the Child Support Agency telephoning clients at work.Normally, the Agency will only telephone a client at work without prior consent where there has been no response to written correspondence and all other methods of communication have failed.We are very aware of the sensitive nature of our work and I can assure you that staff who deal directly with the public are fully trained and equipped with the necessary skills to handle such calls with sensitivity and tact.I hope you find this reply helpful.