§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many man-hours were expended in total on Child Support Agency business in the financial year 1994–95; how many man hours were expended in total on matters relating to the Child Support Agency by staff within the Department of Social Security that are not employed by the Child Support Agency; and if he will give a breakdown of the figures. [34458]
§ Mr. Andrew MitchellThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Tony Ward to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 19 July 1995:
In the absence of Miss Chant, the Chief Executive, I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about man-hours expended on Child Support Agency business.An estimated 8,674,568 man-hours were expended on. Child Support Agency business by our own staff in Great Britain in the financial year 1994–95.1498WInformation on the number of man-hours expended in total on matters relating to the Child Support Agency by staff within the Department of Social Security is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.I hope this is helpful.
§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what is the current number of Child Support Agency assessments in respect of which part, but not the whole, of the amount currently payable, excluding any arrears, is being actually received by the Child Support Agency itself; what is the average weekly amount currently payable, excluding any arrears, under these assessments; and how many of these assessments are interim assessments of category A or D; [34439]
(2) what is the current number of CSA assessments, other than nil assessments, in respect of which the full amount currently payable, excluding any arrears, is actually being received on a regular basis by the Child Support Agency itself; what is the average weekly amount currently payable, excluding any arrears, under these assessments; and how many of these assessments are interim assessments of category A or D. [34440]
§ Mr. MitchellThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Tony Ward to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 19 July 1995:
I am replying to your Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security about child maintenance paid in full or part, excluding any arrears.You asked for this information broken down between full maintenance assessments and Category A and D interim maintenance assessments (IMAs). As Category D IMAs were only introduced in April this year and none have so far been issued, we have therefore assumed that you were interested in Category B IMAs which have been used since April 1993. These are imposed when the absent parent fails to provide information on a second partner's income.Although the information is not available in the specific form you request, I hope you will find the following, which reflects the position as at 29 May, helpful. It relates to payments of regular maintenance and maintenance due for the period before the assessment was completed (known as the initial payment period).
Full payment1 Partial payment2 Average assessment3 Full maintenance assessment4 25,676 55,943 5£43.46 Interim maintenance 5,756 12,921 £96.34 1 Full means nothing due at 29 May 1995. 2 Partial means at least one scheduled payment had been received. 3 Data obtained from a one per cent, statistical sample carried out on 11 March 1995. Includes cases in which no payment has been made. 4 Includes Category B interim maintenance assessments. 5 Relates to cases in which the absent parent is in employment. Excludes absent parents on income support.
§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what will be the effect on manpower of moving some of the operations of Child Support Agency into local offices as stated in the agency's most recent business plan; 1499W and what measures will be adopted to monitor the costs of such a development. [34459]
§ Mr. MitchellThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Tony Ward to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 19 July 1995:
In the absence of Miss Chant, the Chief Executive, I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the effect on manpower of moving some work into local child support offices.As with any transfer of work within an organisation there will be a commensurate movement of resources. This will ensure that staff in local child support offices are properly equipped and trained to complete some maintenance assessments. Proper management controls will be in place to monitor costs arising from the movement of this work.
§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what changes he will be making to the Child Support Agency's computer system to allow assessments to be carried out in local offices; what will be the cost; who will be the contractor and how they will be chosen; what quality assurance measures will be taken; when the changes will be completed; and what measures are to be taken to guarantee the security of the system. [34457]
§ Mr. MitchellThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Tony Ward to Ms Liz Lynne dated 19 July 1995:
In the absence of Miss Chant, the Chief Executive, I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the changes to the Child Support Agency's computer system to maintenance assessments to be carried out locally.Full access to the child support computer system which will allow staff in local offices to make some maintenance assessments will be introduced in early 1996 and we have asked the Information Technology Services Agency to arrange for this work to be carried out. Details such as the total cost of the plan, quality assurance, security of the system and final rollout will be addressed during the planning process.
§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the number of Child Support Agency offices in the United Kingdom at 19 June. [34766]
§ Mr. MitchellThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. she will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Tony Ward to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 19 June 1995:
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the number of Child Support Offices in the United Kingdom.As at 19 June 1995 there were 320 local Child Support Agency offices in Great Britain. I am unable to provide you with information for the whole of the United Kingdom as the operations of the Agency in Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.I hope this is helpful.
§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will provide a monthly breakdown of the number of parents with care who cease to claim benefit within four weeks of intervention by the Child Support Agency. [34834]
1500W
§ Mr. MitchellThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Tony Ward to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 19 July 1995:
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the number of parents with care who cease to receive benefit within four weeks of being contacted by the Child Support Agency.During 1994/95 over 60,000 parents with care ceased their claim to Income Support within four weeks of action by the Child Support Agency. The table at annex A shows a monthly breakdown of this figure.I hope this is helpful.
Cases where parent with care ceased to claim Income Support within four weeks of contact from the Child Support Agency: April 1994 to March 1995 Month Volume April 5,737 May 5,977 June 6,282 July 4,791 August 4,565 September 5,352 October 5,109 November 5,129 December 3,329 January 4,163 February 4,448 March 5,344 Total 60,226
§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many forms 676 indicating that parents with care have been moved off benefit as a result of the payment of child support maintenance have been issued from the Child Support Agency to the Benefits Agency; and if he will provide a monthly breakdown for the financial year 1994 to 1995. [34835]
§ Mr. MitchellThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Tony Ward to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 19 July 1995:
In the absence of Miss Chant, the Chief Executive, I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the number of parents with care who have moved off benefit following the payment of child maintenance assessed by the Child Support Agency (Maintenance Cessations).The information that you have requested is shown in the table below.
1501W
Month Maintenance Cessations April 614 May 403 June 905 July 1,378 August 655 September 560 October 451 November 975
Month Maintenance Cessations December 552 January 546 February 628 March 511 1994–95 8,178 I hope this is helpful.
§ Mr. PurchaseTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of hon. Members' queries to the Child Support Agency are fully answered within the time laid down in the Child Support Agency charter; and what percentage of the general public's queries are fully answered within the charter time. [35039]
§ Mr. MitchellThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Tony Ward to Mr. Ken Purchase, dated 19 July 1995:
In the absence of Miss Chant, the Chief Executive, I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the Child Support Agency's performance in replying to correspondence.The Agency does not use a charter standard for measuring the time taken to reply to MP's correspondence. Instead, it follows the Departmental target of replying to MP's letters within 20 days. The table below shows the performance against this target which highlights the improvements achieved over recent months.
Percentage 1–20 days 21–40 days Over 40 days September 1994 14 55 31 May 1995 56 44 0 The Agency has a charter standard to reply to written enquiries from the public "within 10 working days". During 1994/95 the Agency replied to 35% of written enquiries within the charter standard.
I hope this is helpful.
§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 22 May,Official Report, column 432, to the hon. Member for Newham, North-East (Mr. Timms) how the figure for benefit savings achieved by the Child Support Agency was arrived at; and if he will give a detailed breakdown. [27998]
§ Mr. Mitchell[pursuant to the reply of the Minister of State for Social Security 12 June 1995, c. 492]: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 19 July 1995:
1502WI wrote to you in reply on 13 June in reply to PQ2406/1993/94 which concerned the benefit savings achieved by the Child Support Agency during 1994/95.Unfortunately there was a small typographical error in the annex attached to my letter. The entry in the table "Income Support exceeded rate of benefit" should have read "Maintenance exceeded rate of benefit". Please find a corrected copy of the table attached.Please accept my apologies for this error.
Category of benefit savings Amount (£ million) Resulting from pre-CSA assessments: Paid direct by absent parent to parent with care 119.52 Paid through Agency collection service to Secretary of State 7.00 Resulting from CSA assessments: Paid direct by absent parent to parent with care 13.76 Paid through Agency collection service to Secretary of state 47.94 Deductions from income support payments made to absent parents 2.38 Income Support claim cessation: Maintenance exceeded rate of benefit 23.83 Income support claim withdrawn within 4 weeks of CSA action 199.53 Reductions in Family Credit or Disability Working allowance resulting from CSA assessments 12.84 Housing benefit/Council tax reductions resulting from CSA assessments 52.25 Total 479.05