§ Mr. SandersTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much maintenance money is currently outstanding after assessment by the Child Support Agency in(a) Devon and (b) the United Kingdom; and how many children this relates to in (a) and (b). [23323]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyWe are looking for substantial and sustained operational improvements from the Agency, in particular in getting more maintenance paid, reducing the backlogs and improving customer service.
The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mrs. Faith Boardman. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Faith Boardman to Mr. Adrian Sanders, dated 29 January 1998:
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the amount of maintenance currently outstanding in Devon and the United Kingdom; and how many children this relates to.It is not possible to provide the full information you requested, however I can provide details on maintenance outstanding at Agency level (excluding Northern Ireland, which is handled separately by the Northern Ireland Child Support Agency), and at Business Unit level. Information on maintenance outstanding is taken from the Agency's Financial Management System but is not available at county level. The Agency is organised into 6 Business Units; Devon is dealt with by our South West Business Unit, for which figures are quoted in the table.418WNumbers are given for related children in the Devon area, and also in the South West Business Unit (provided by the Department of Social Security Analylitical Services Division).
Maintenance outstanding and the number of related children in Great Britain and the South Western Business Unit
at 31 December 1997
Category A interim maintenance assessments (£) Full maintenance assessments and other interim maintenance assessments (£) Number of related children South West Business Unit 104,697,780 1113,058,066 187,160 (of which 22,340 live in the Devon area) Great Britain 690,002.757 2635,522,889 1,002,180 1 £53,161,236 of this relates to amounts which have been rescheduled for payment over an agreed future period. 2 £301,638,298 of this relates to amounts which have been rescheduled for payment over an agreed future period. A Category A interim maintenance assessment sets maintenance at a punitive rate for absent parents who fail to co-operate, is imposed until the Agency is provided with the information needed to complete a full maintenance assessment. The Agency issued many interim maintenance assessments in its first two years—73,303 in 93/94. The emphasis now is to encourage absent parents to co-operate early and therefore avoid building up excessive maintenance arrears; the number of interim maintenance assessments has now greatly reduced to 11,718 in 1996/97.In 1997 the Agency undertook a debt analysis exercise and established that 44.9% of final maintenance assessments were collectable, 15.9% were possibly uncollectable, 38% probably uncollectable and 1.2% has been deferred.I hope this is helpful.
§ Mr. SandersTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the average length of time between assessment by the Child Support Agency and first payment. [23505]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyWe expect the Child Support Agency to provide an efficient and effective service to all its clients.
The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mrs. Faith Boardman. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Faith Boardman to Mr. Adrian Sanders, dated 29 January 1998:
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the average length of time between assessment by the Child Support Agency and first payment.It is not possible to provide details on the average length of time between assessment and first payment. The date on which a first payment is due is dependent on several factors, including the chosen method of payment, the payment preferences of the absent parent and the parent with care, and the absent parent's pay frequency. There is no prescribed date applicable to all cases by which a first payment must be made.It is therefore difficult to estimate an average length of time between assessment and the date on which the first payment should be made.Statistics are not collated on the time between the assessment and the first payment as these details would not prove very informative due to the several factors that have an influence on when a first payment is due and in turn actually made.419WThe Agency is very aware of the need to assess maintenance and ensure payments are passed on to the parent with care as quickly as possible, and in 1997/98 has two Secretary of State targets designed to achieve this. The first target contains an element which requires the Agency to clear 60% of all applications within 26 weeks; to 31st December 1997, the year's performance stood at 73%. The second target requires the Agency to pass on 97% of payments to the parent with care within ten days of receipt from the absent parent; year-to-date performance at 31st December was 98%.We are constantly looking at how we can adapt and improve our procedures to speed up the time taken. The timescales achieved for many cases have shortened over the last 2 years. Such an example is that the Agency is building more pro-active use of the telephone into its procedures between assessment and first payment to ensure that timescales are shortened wherever possible. The vast majority of payment advice is now conducted by telephone.I hope this is helpful.
§ Mr. SandersTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people in Devon are being pursued by the Child Support Agency; and what is the figure per 1,000 residents in the United Kingdom. [23324]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyChildren are entitled to the financial and emotional support of both parents wherever they live. It is not right that so many absent parents should seek to avoid paying the maintenance they owe.
The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mrs Faith Boardman. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Faith Boardman to Mr. Adrian Sanders, dated 29 January 1998:
420WI am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the caseload of the Child Support Agency.The caseload comprises two broad categories, i.e. the live and assessed cases, where an assessment has been made, and the work-on-hand, where the case has not yet been cleared by assessment or by closure for other reasons.The Agency is organised into 6 Business Units; figures are available at Business Unit level but not at county level. Devon is dealt with by our South West Business Unit, for which figures are given below.At 31st December 1997, the South West Business Unit has 120,300 live and assessed cases. At the same time, that Business Unit's work-on-hand stood at 48,297; 18,305 of which are backlog cases.Any maintenance application which is over 52 weeks old is considered to form part of the Agency's backlog.The Agency has developed and is now implementing a strategy for meeting its undertaking to clear its backlogs. All Business Units have put in place operational plans which will guide them towards the achievement of our stated objective of clearing backlogs by 31 March 1999.The total caseload for the South West Business Unit of 168,597 equates to around 3 cases per 1,000 people, based on a GB population of around 57.2 million.I hope this is helpful.
§ Dr. KumarTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security is she will provide a breakdown of the numbers of staff employed by the Child Support Agency working on Teesside; and if the review of the CSA is examining their caseload. [24514]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyChildren are entitled to the financial and emotional support of both parents wherever they live. We are looking closely at all aspects of the Agency's work to ensure that it provides a consistent, fair and efficient service to all its clients. We aim to bring forward proposals by the Summer.
The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mrs. Faith Boardman. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Faith Boardman to Dr. Ashok Kumar, dated 29 January 1998:
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about staff employed by the Child Support Agency.The Agency employs 32 staff in the Teeside area. All of these staff work in Middlesborough Field Office.I hope this is helpful.
Mr. BendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if she will make a statement on the future of the Child Support Agency; [26727]
(2) when she will announce the outcome of her review of the Child Support Act 1995. [26728]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyWe are looking closely at all aspects of the child support scheme to see where improvements can be made. We expect to bring forward proposals by the Summer.