HC Deb 11 February 2004 vol 417 cc1491-2W
John Barrett

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many departures from child support maintenance have been requested by non-resident parents in each year since 1997; and how many of these were granted. [147821]

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 with the information requested.

Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. John Barrett, dated 11 February 2004: In reply to your recent Parliamentary question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. You asked how many departures from child support maintenance have been requested by non-resident parents in each year since 1997; and how many of these were granted. The Agency does not distinguish between requests for departures from child support maintenance from non-resident parents and parents with care and we do not hold any figures relating to departures prior to April 1998. The figures that we do hold are shown in the table below:

Year ending Total applications received Total applications granted
1999 16,868 3,162
2000 14,147 4,393
2001 22,912 7,049
2002 21,128 8,196
2003 20,700 7,508

I hope this is helpful.