§ Mr. IngramTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security in how many cases the Child Support Agency has had to trace the absent parent; and what is the rate of success.
§ Mr. BurtThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Miss Ann Chant, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ann Chant to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 1 February 1995:
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the number and success rate of specialist traces performed by the Child Support Agency.Since launch to the end of November 1994, specialist tracing action has been completed in almost 77,000 cases, 58,000 of which were successful; a success rate of 75 per cent.I hope that this is of help.
§ Mr. IngramTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what was the outcome of the 13,281 section 707W 18 reviews outstanding as at 31 March 1994 cited in his answer of 18 May 1994, Official Report, column 526; how many section 18 reviews of child support officers' decisions have been requested since then and how many have been cleared; and what efforts are being made to monitor the outcomes and length of time that reviews are taking to be decided;
(2) how many section 17 reviews of child support officers' decisions have been cleared in the first half of 1994–95; how many of these resulted in a fresh assessment; and what efforts are being made to monitor the number of requests made for section 17 reviews and the length of time that reviews are taking to be decided.
§ Mr. BurtThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Miss Ann Chant, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 1 February 1995:
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about Section 17 and Section 18 reviews completed by the Child Support Agency.Between April and september 1994, 15,562 Section 17 reviews were cleared. From April to the end of July, 13,065 reviews resulted in the maintenance assessment being revise. From August 1994, numbers of reviews resulting maintenance assessments were no longer collected because there was no business need for the information and data collected for earlier periods had clearly shown that the overwhelming majority of reviews cleared result in a fresh assessment.Following enhancements to the Agency's management information systems it was found that the number of Section 18 review applications outstanding at 1 April 1994 was 9,537, which differs from the figure of 11,732 given in the answer of 18 May 1994. Between April and November 1994, a further 18,766 review applications were received and 18,671 applications were cleared.Enhancements to our Management Information Systems enable us, from August 1994, to identify the number of Section 18 review clearances which actually result in a review being completed, against those considered not appropriate to Section 18 and those refused or withdrawn. However, there is no business requirement to record the number of completed reviews which result in a change to assessment. From August we are also now able to measure the proportion of Section 17 and Section 18 reviews completed within specific age bands.I hope that this is of help.
Number of unemployed claimants by benefit entitlement at the second Thursday of the given months (GB) thousands All unemployed claimants Unemployment Benefit only Unemployment Benefit and Income Support Income Support only No benefit 1991 November 2,313 507 119 1,386 301 1992 February 2,553 566 129 1,530 328 May 2,546 545 124 1,564 313 August 2,641 525 117 1,651 347 November 2,687 534 121 1,664 368 1993 February 2,840 578 123 1,769 370 May 2,759 543 116 1,765 335 August 2,821 532 108 1,817 364 November 2,640 483 101 1,744 312