HC Deb 30 November 1993 vol 233 cc424-6W
Mrs. Jane Kennedy

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what is his latest estimate of the number of maintenance requirement assessments completed by the Child Support Agency since April;

(2) what is his latest estimate of benefit savings achieved by the Child Support Agency since April.

Mr. Burt

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from R. Hepplewhite to Mrs. Jane Kennedy, dated 29 November 1993: I have been asked to reply to your Questions to the Secretary of State about estimates of maintenance assessments completed by the Child Support Agency since April 1993 and benefit savings achieved since April 1993. The number of maintenance assessments completed to 31 October is 56,800. The benefit savings so far reported by the Agency in the same period is £142 million. This does not represent the total amount of savings achieved by the Agency because some are scored retrospectively. I hope you will find this reply helpful.

Mr. Lidington

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what target he has set the chief executive of the Child Support Agency for the time taken to respond to letters from hon. Members; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Burt

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from R. Hepplewhite to Mr. David Lidington, dated 29 November 1993: I have been asked to reply to your Question to the Secretary of State about the targets he has set for the time taken to respond to letters from honourable Members. All letters from Members of Parliament addressed to me are acknowledged and I aim to respond within an average of 20 working days. Recent press interest has stimulated a great deal of correspondence from constituents and although that target is not being met at the moment, the necessary steps are being taken to ensure that correspondence from Members will be answered as promptly as possible. I hope you will find this helpful.

Mr. Pike

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give a breakdown of the representations received regarding the operation of the Child Support Agency on the basis of(a) sex of the applicant and (b) region; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Burt

Between April 1993 and November 1993 the Department of Social Security headquarters and the Child Support Agency headquarters received in the region of 3,000 written representations covering a range of views about child support issues.

The cost of establishing the number of written representations made to field offices and Child Support Agency centres would be disproportionately high. The number of representations made in person or by telephone, the region from which the people who have made representations came from and their sex is not recorded.

Mr. Hall

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the number of cases dealt with so far by the Child Support Agency, by constituency.

Mr. Burt

I understand from Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive of the Child Support Agency, that information in the form requested is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

However, a report showing the agency's national performance is available each month in the Library.

Mr. Redmond

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how the chief executive of the Child Support Agency's performance-related pay is calculated; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Burt

The nature of the Child Support Agency chief executive's performance package was set out in my response to my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton, North (Mr. Marlow) on 5 November, at column 588. The amount of the chief executive's total remuneration in any year will be published in the agency's annual report for that year.