Child Support Act (Hansard, 4 February 1993)

§ Mr. Dewar
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what representations his Department has received concerning the need for research to monitor the effects of the Child Support Act 1991;
(2) what plans his Department has to carry out or commission research on the working of the Child Support Act 1991 and its impact on single parents caring for children and on non-custodial parents.

§ Mr. Burt
We have consistently stressed the importance of monitoring and evaluating the effects of the Child Support Act 1991, as did several respondents to the consultation exercise. Such work will be built in to the Department's research programme. We envisage that this will involve both the careful analysis of management information on the activities of the Child Support Agency and the comissioning, if necessary, of research by external experts.

§ Mr. Pickthall
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what are the estimated first year costs inclusive of setting-up moneys of the newly-formed Child Support Agency.

§ Mr. Burt
The current estimated first-year costs, inclusive of setting-up costs, are £262 million. These are broken down as follows:

£ million

(a) Total costs of setting up the agency 146

(b) Total costs of running the agency in 1993–94 116

	£ million
(a) Total costs of setting up the agency	146
(b) Total costs of running the agency in 1993–94	116