§ Mr. ButlerTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what progress he has made in setting up the Child Support Agency.
§ Mr. JackPursuant to my reply of 15 April at column 9–10, no final decisions have yet been made on the location of administration centres for the Child Support Agency,194W since its establishment depends on the passage of the Child Support Bill currently before the House. However, for planning purposes the assumption is that there should be up to six new offices housing about 3,000 staff—in addition to the CSA staff who will be based in local offices of the Department's Benefits Agency, making a total of about 4,500 in all. It is the Government's intention to locate the 195W new administration centres in different areas throughout the country as part of its policy of relocating civil service jobs.
Substantial progress has been made in identifying suitable locations with over 100 sites visited by my officials at 31 different locations. Detailed negotiations and discussions are being conducted about six particular locations in Falkirk, Belfast, Birkenhead, the black country (Dudley), Hastings and Plymouth—all of which appear to meet the criteria required for supporting a large CSA office. The discussions are aimed at establishing the ability of each location to meet the Department's accommodation specification, cost requirements and timetable. Once I am satisfied on all these matters, I will confirm the final decisions on the locations of the new administration centres. If successful, this will create new jobs for people in the travel-to-work areas in these six locations.
The Department's decision to locate the work of the new agency in different parts of the country should be seen in conjunction with the announcement earlier this year confirming the location of 700 more jobs in the north-east—at Newcastle—for the Contributions Agency, in addition to the 1,000 jobs for Newcastle announced last year. A further 800 DSS jobs are due to move to Leeds from mid-1992 as part of the initiative to relocate work from DSS headquarters offices in London and Southampton. From April 1992, the administration of the new benefits for disabled people will require about 1,100 staff who will be located in a number of areas spread around the country. Relocation of work from London social security offices has been in progress since 1989 and a total of over 1,500 new jobs have been created in Glasgow, Belfast and Ashton-in-Makerfield. By the end of 1992, it is estimated that about 83 per cent. of jobs in DSS will be in locations outside London.