§ Mr. IngramTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when the Child Support Agency computer system was, or is planned to be upgraded, as mentioned in his answer of 21 July 1994,Official Report, column 617; what is the total number of client accounts; how many of these client accounts are in arrears; and how many arrears agreements are in force.
§ Mr. BurtThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Miss Ann Chant, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 6 February 1995:
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the number of client accounts and arrears of child maintenance.The Child Support Computer System is being continually enhanced to reflect policy and operational changes and additional management requirements. Some of the information that you require is now available.As at the end of November the Agency was dealing with a total of 165,000 accounts that had been set up following the completion of a maintenance assessment for the collection of maintenance through the Agency collection service.In 26,000 cases the absent parent (AP) was up to date with their payments. In 58,300 they had not met their liability in full and in 70,700 no payments had been made.There are a further 134,000 cases where an assessment has been completed and the AP agreed to pay maintenance direct to the parent with care.In some cases, where maintenance has not been paid in full, an agreement with the AP has been reached that arrears of maintenance be rescheduled for payment at a future date. Information on the number of accounts in which there has been an agreement to re-schedule arrears is not currently available. Enhancements to the agency's information systems should provide for this information to be available by the end of the financial year.
§ Mr. IngramTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what measures he is taking to tackle the problems that the Child Support Agency is having in assessing and enforcing child support maintenance from absent parents who are self-employed.
§ Mr. BurtThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Miss Ann Chant, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
81WLetter from Miss Ann Chant to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 6 February 1995:
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about measures taken by the Child Support Agency to improve the assessment and enforcement of child maintenance from absent parents who are self-employed.The White Paper published by the Government on 23 January ("Improving Child Support"—cm 2745) includes proposals to create a new interim assessment for the self employed, together with other measures to address problems that have arisen when dealing with these cases.The Agency is also considering separately other options available to improve enforcement of maintenance assessments made against self employed absent parents.
§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many parents with care have currently been waiting(a) one month, (b) two months, (c) three months, (d) six months and (e) one year to receive their first maintenance payment through the Child Support Agency from the date of first application; and what percentage of applications each group represents;
(2) how many parents with care have waited (a) one month, (b) two months, (c) three months, (d) six months and (e) one year from the date of first application since the Child Support Act 1991 came into force to receive their first maintenance payment through the Child Support Agency; and what percentage of applications each group represents.
§ Mr. BurtThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Miss Ann Chant, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Mr. Clive Betts, dated 3 February 1995:
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the time taken for parents with care to receive their first maintenance payment through the Child Support Agency.The precise information that you require does not need to be collected in the form that you mention, however, information that you may find helpful will soon be collected; I will write to you again once it is available.
§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the extra workload created by his recent proposals for changes to the operation of the Child Support Act 1991; what effect it will have on work backlog within the agency; and if he has any plans to recruit extra staff as a result.
§ Mr. BurtThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Miss Ann Chant, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Mr. Clive Betts, dated 2 February 1995:
82WI am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the impact of the recently announced legislative and operational changes to child support on the Child Support Agency.We do not expect any effect on staffing or an increase in the overall workload or backlog of maintenance assessments following the operational improvements due for implementation in April 1995, over the year as a whole. The benefits arising from these changes are expected to balance out the extra work needed to implement them during this period. In the longer term they will have a beneficial effect on our operations.Details of the costs arising from the proposed primary legislation will be supplied in the financial memorandum to the Bill.
§ Mr. MorganTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give the number of deduction from earnings orders that have been issued for each six-month period since the setting up of the Child Support Agency; what consultations he has had with business organisations concerning the extra work involved for employers; and what are his proposals to compensate businesses, with particular reference to particularly small businesses, for the additional burden involved in compulsory employer processings of deduction from earnings orders.
§ Mr. BurtThe Child Support Agency issued 2,600 deduction from earnings orders in 1993–94. This figure cannot be broken down into six-month periods. Between 1 April and 30 September 1994 11,463 DEOs were issued.
Discussions about DEOs were held with employers through the DSS employers' panel. The legislation relating to the operation of DEOs includes a provision for an employer to deduct up to £1 in respect of his administrative costs from the person's earnings each time a deduction in accordance with the DEO is made.