Child Support Agency (Hansard, 17 July 2003)

§ Mr. Steen
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether an allowance is made for child care costs, in relation to a child living with an absent parent with care or with the parent being assessed, in the Child Support Agency's formula for child maintenance. [126160]

§ Mr. Pond
In both the old and new child support schemes, no specific allowance is made for formal child care costs. In the old child support scheme, an allowance is made in the exempt income calculation for the nonresident parent's natural children who reside with them, and all the children who reside with them (including stepchildren) in the protected income calculation. In the new scheme, any children residing with the non-resident parent are taken into account before maintenance liability is calculated.
Allowance is also made for those non-resident parents who share the care of their children. In the old child support scheme, maintenance liability reduces if care is shared for 104 or more nights in a year. In the new scheme, reductions apply if care is shared for 52 nights or more. For equal care, there are special rules.

§ Vernon Coaker
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the progress made by the CSA in introducing the new system of assessment. [117902]

§ Mr. Pond
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon North, (Malcolm Wicks), gave to the hon. Member for Northavon (Mr. Webb) on 3 June 2003,Official Report, column 54W.

§ Diana Organ
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many liability orders were placed on members of the armed forces by the Child Support Agency in each month since July 2002. [123931]

§ Mr. Pond
The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to my hon. Friend.
Letter from Doug Smith to Diana Organ, dated July 2003: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent parliamentary question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. You ask how many liability orders were placed on members of the armed forces by the Child Support Agency in each month since July 2002. 530W We have not placed any liability orders on members of the armed forces. We have however made deduction of earnings requests in respect of members of the armed forces. We do not have the information to provide a monthly breakdown. As at 28 February 2003 the Agency had made just under 3,000 deduction of earnings requests. I do not have the figures relating to periods after February 2003.

§ Diana Organ
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the application of child support regulations to armed forces personnel. [123933]

§ Mr. Pond
Child support regulations are applied to civilians and armed forces personnel equally, other than the regulations concerning deductions from the pay of service personnel.

§ Mr. Andrew Turner
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much interest was earned from monies held by the Child Support Agency between receipt from parents without care and payment to parents with care in the last year for which figures are available. [124975]

§ Mr. Pond
The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Andrew Turner, dated July 2003: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent parliamentary question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. You ask how much interest was saved from monies held by the Child Support Agency between receipt from parents without care and payments to parents with care in the last year for which figures are available. Where an amount has been received from the non resident parent and has not been paid over to the parent with care within a 14 day period; any interest accrued during that time, in excess of £5, will be reimbursed to the parent with care. During the 2002–03 financial year this amounted to £20,803. I have no information on the interest relating to amounts paid over to the parent with care within the 14 days and the interest relating to amounts less than £5.

§ Dr. Stoate
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will apply the new rules for Child Support Agency claims to pre-existing cases. [125163]

§ Mr. Pond
We have made it clear that we shall only make a decision on this once we are sure that the new scheme is working well.