HC Deb 26 April 1994 vol 242 cc126-7W
Mr. Dewar

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security in how many cases where a maintenance assessment has been completed by the Child Support Agency the parent with care was in receipt of family credit, at the latest date for which figures are available.

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 Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Donald Dewar, dated 26 April 1994: I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the number of cases in which a child maintenance assessment has been completed where the parent with care was in receipt of family credit. The Agency does not collect information that identifies maintenance assessments according to the benefit status of the parent with care. At 28 February 1994, however, 26 per cent. of the maintenance application forms issued involved parents with in care who had claimed family credit. I hope this reply is helpful.

Ms Quin

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the average interval between the reception and issue of a substantive response to letters sent to the chief executive of the Child Support Agency from hon. Members dated(a) November 1993, (b) December 1993 and (c) January 1994.

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 Ros Hepplewhite to Ms Joyce Quin, dated 26 April 1994. I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the average interval between the receipt of, and response to, letters sent to me by Members of Parliament. I am sorry but the information is not available in the form you request. The first year of the Agency's operations has stimulated a great deal of correspondence, and I have received over 5,000 letters from Members of Parliament. All such letters are acknowledged within 24 hours of receipt and by 15 April I had personally replied to over 3,000. Set out in the table below are the average clearance times between 1 November 1993 and 31 January 1994 for such correspondence:

Cleared 1–15 days per cent. Cleared 16–20 days per cent. Cleared 21 to 15 days per cent. Cleared over 40 days per cent.
10.52 5.21 36.35 47.92

I am afraid that the targets for answering letters are not currently being met, but necessary steps have been taken to ensure that letters from Members are answered as promptly as possible.

I am sorry that I cannot be more helpful, but I would like to assure you that the Agency is determined to improve its performance in this regard.

Dr. Wright

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what provisions exist for the Child Support Agency to pay compensation; what criteria apply to compensation payments; and how many compensation payments, of what value, have been made to date.

Mr. Burt

The Department of Social Security operates non-statutory special payment arrangements under which compensation may be considered where, as a result of clear and unambiguous departmental error or unreasonable delay, actual financial loss has been suffered. Requests for special payments will be considered within these broad guidelines, taking account of the particular circumstances of each individual case. Two ex-gratia payments have been made by the agency to date, one of £100—relating to liable relative work before the inception of the agency—and one for £115.60.