§ Ms CoffeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many inquiries have been received by the Child Support Agency from hon. Members on behalf of their constituents since it was set up; and how many inquiries have received a full reply(a) within a fortnight, (b) a month, (c) two months and (d) three months and over.
§ Mr. BurtI refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the chief executive of the Child Support Agency on 4 March 1994,Official Report, column 897.
§ Ms GordonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security in what circumstances and on what conditions single mothers can withdraw authorisation once given to the Child Support Agency.
§ Mr. BurtIf a parent who has given her authorisation makes representations to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, they will be considered in the same way as representations made at the time of the original application. If the Secretary of State considers that there is a risk of harm or undue stress to the parent with care or any child living with her, he will withdraw the requirement to authorise action. Once he has done this, the parent with care may request that action to pursue child support maintenance ceases and the Secretary of State must comply with the request.
§ Ms Rachel SquireTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many of the cases dealt with by the Child Support Agency to date have resulted in absent parents requesting that their case go before an appeal tribunal; if there is a target time for dealing with appeals; what is the average length of time required to complete the appeal process; and in how many cases the appeal process has exceeded the target time.
§ Mr. BurtThe responsibility for hearing appeals against child support decisions lies with the independent tribunal service. The president of ITS informs me that during the period April 1993 to 25 February 1994 it received 1,132 appeals. Information is not available on how many of these appeals were made by the absent parent. No target for dealing with these appeals has been set by the president, as in his view there is as yet insufficient information on which to base any target. The average time from lodgment of appeal to issue of the tribunal decision is currently 17 weeks.
§ Ms Rachel SquireTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the average length of time taken by the Child Support Agency to respond to letters from hon. Members; and what action he intends to take to reduce this time.
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§ Mr. BurtThe first year of the agency's operations has stimulated a great deal of correspondence and the chief executive of the Child Support Agency has received over 3,700 letters from hon. Members. By 25 February, she had replied to over 1,900. Targets for answering letters are not currently being met, but necessary steps are being taken to ensure that letters to hon. Members are answered as promptly as possible. The average clearance times for such correspondence are in the table.
Cleared Per cent. 1 to 15 days 16.61 16 to 20 days 8.66 21 to 40 days 26.76 Over 40 days 47.98
§ Ms GordonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many single mothers have stopped applying for income support after receiving a maintenance application form from the Child Support Agency.
§ Mr. BurtInformation is currently being collected on such cases, but figures are not available in a reliable form.
§ Ms GordonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many absent parents who have no contact agreement with their former family have demanded contact or residence after receiving maintenance assessments from the Child Support Agency.
§ Mr. BurtThe arrangement of child maintenance is a separate matter from that of contact or residence with former families, which remains with the courts. Consequently, the Child Support Agency does not routinely collect figures on this subject and information in the form requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.