HC Deb 03 March 1994 vol 238 cc817-20W
Mr. Robert Ainsworth

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the powers of the Child Support Agency in relation to deductions from an individual's salary.

Mr. Burt

Under section 31(2) of the Child Support Act 1991, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has the power to impose a deduction from earnings order against a liable person to secure payment of the amount due under a maintenance assessment, and any arrears which may have accrued, where other methods of collection have been unsuccessful, or where the liable person specifically requests it. The decision to impose such an order will be taken in the light of the individual circumstances of each case.

Mr. Robert Ainsworth

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether an employee must be informed before any deduction from salary is made to the Child Support Agency.

Mr. Burt

An absent parent will always be notified that a deduction from earnings order will come into effect before any money is deducted from his earnings.

Mr. Alan Howarth

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many parents with care are presently owed arrears from the Child Support Agency because sums collected from absent parents in receipt of income support have not been paid over by the Benefits Agency;

(2) what steps his Department is taking to set up arrangements between the Benefits Agency and the Child Support Agency for the transfer of benefit deducted from absent parents as a contribution in lieu of child support to be paid to parents with care who are not in receipt of income support;

(3) how much money, deducted by the Benefits Agency from income support payable to absent parents, is waiting for transfer to the Child Support Agency to paid to parents with care.

Mr. Burt

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to the hon. Member for East Kilbride (Mr. Ingram) by Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive of Child Support Agency on 23 February 1994 at columns366–67.

Mr. Dewar

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will break down by area CSAC the cumulative summary of the Child Support Agency performance from 5 April 1993 to 31 December 1993 which has been placed in the Library.

Mr. Burt

The administration of the Child Support Agency is the responsibility of its chief executive, ROS Hepplewhite. She will write to the hon. Member shortly.

Letter from Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Donald Dewar, dated 2 March 1994:

I am writing to you subsequent to the Ministerial reply to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking for a breakdown by Child Support Agency Centre of the cumulative summary of Child Support Agency performance which has been laid in the Library of the House.

The information you requested, broken down by CSAC and covering the period 5 April 1993 to 31 December 1993 is attached. As a result of ongoing validation some totals differ from those previously provided, although the differences are not significant. All figures should therefore continue to be regarded as provisional and may be subject to further amendment.

I hope you find the information helpful.

Mr. Hall

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security on what basis the figures for amounts of money recovered by the Child Support Agency are calculated.

Mr. Burt

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. Mike Hall, dated 3 March 1994.

I am replying to your question to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking on what basis the figures for amounts of money recovered by the Agency are calculated.

Where the parent with care is receiving Income Support, a saving is recorded if action taken to arrange maintenance results in benefit reducing or ceasing. If the maintenance arranged is collected by the Agency, the figure for the amount recovered is obtained from the receipts into the Agency's bank account.

If the maintenance arranged is instead paid directly from the absent parent to the parent with care, a total of the amount by which benefit reduces is kept clerically. Records are similarly kept of voluntary and court-ordered maintenance payments made directly to parents with care which reduce Income Support entitlement.

Where the absent parent is in receipt of Income Support, a nominal maintenance contribution of £2.20 may be deducted from his or her benefit. Totals of these maintenance deductions are periodically reported to the CSA by the Benefits Agency.

Where the involvement of the Agency results in benefit ceasing, because the maintenance arranged exceeds benefit entitlement or for some other reasons, a saving is calculated by multiplying the weekly amount of benefit previously in payment by the estimated number of weeks for which the claim would have continued, in the absence of CSA involvement.

Where the parent with care is receiving Family Credit and Disability Working Allowance savings are determined by information from periodic scans of the relevant computer data-base. If the involvement of the Agency results in benefit ceasing, savings are estimated retrospectively, by analysis of a sample of cases.

I hope this reply is useful.

Mr. Robert Ainsworth

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what representations he has received from people in Coventry concerning the Child Support Agency being given access to personal information when approaching employers;

(2) what representations he has received from employers concerning their duty to supply information to the Child Support Agency.

Mr. Burt

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. Robert Ainsworth, dated 2 March 1994:

I am replying to your Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security about representations received from the people of Coventry concerning the Child Support Agency gaining access to personal information from employers; and representations from employers on the same subject.

There are no recorded representations from people living in Coventry concerning the Agency being given access to personal information.

Although records are not kept of individual occurrences, we are aware that one employer has contacted the Agency concerning the duty to provide information on employees. In this case, the employer was made aware of the relevant legislation, and to date, nothing further has been heard.

I hope this reply is helpful.

Mr. Channon

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what resources are devoted to the prevention of fraud by the Child Support Agency.

Mr. Burt

The 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 2 March 1994:

I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the resources that the Child Support Agency devotes to the prevention of fraud.

As the Agency acts as intermediary between two parties in the arrangement of child maintenance, it has no discrete resources devoted to the prevention of fraud. Where Social Security benefits are in payment, however, and a potential fraud against the benefits system comes to light, relevant information is passed to the Benefits Agency or Employment Services to investigate.

If an allegation of misrepresentation is made which does not involve the incorrect payment of a Social Security benefit, then the child support officer will consider whether there is sufficient evidence to review the maintenance assessment.

I hope you find this reply helpful.

Mr. Robert Ainsworth

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what instructions he has given to the Child Support Agency as to their conduct when seeking information from an individual's employer.

Mr. Burt

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. Robert Ainsworth, dated 2 March 1994:

I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security concerning the instructions given to the Child Support Agency's staff when contacting employers.

The Child Support Manual stresses the need for care and the avoidance of disclosure of confidential information when contacting employers. Normally employers are contacted only where clients are unable to provide sufficient information or verification of their income for child maintenance to be assessed. Exceptionally, an employer may be approached where all other attempts to contact a client has failed.

A copy of the Child Support Manual is available in the Library.

I hope this reply is helpful.

Mr. Burns

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when Mr. W. J. Potts of Chelmsford (CSA Reference: 6455 WAL 1004029951) can expect a reply to his letter of 1 November 1993 to the Child Support Agency requesting a reassessment of his child maintenance assessment.

Mr. Burt

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Simon Burns, dated 2 March 1994:

I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about correspondence between your constituent Mr. W. J. Potts, and the Child Support Agency.

I am afraid that the Agency has no record of a letter from Mr. Potts dated 1 November 1993, although correspondence was received from him dated 21 November 1993, which requested a reassessment of his maintenance. This review has now been carried out, and Mr. Potts was notified of its outcome on 25 February. Please accept my apologies for the delay.

I understand that you contacted the Customer Services manager at the Belfast Agency Centre on 25 February about Mr. Potts' case, and that he replied to you by letter the same day.