HC Deb 30 January 1996 vol 270 cc735-9W
Ms Lynne

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many of the Child Support Agency cases deferred in December 1994 were taken on in(a) November 1995 and (b) December 1995; and what he estimates to be the month-by-month take-up until the end of the current financial year. [10182]

Mr. Andrew Mitchell

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 Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 29 January 1996: I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the take on of Child Support Agency cases deferred in December 1994. The special take on of such cases in November and December 1995 was as follows:

  • November 1995—292
  • December 1995—178
As you are aware at the time of deferral some 340,000 cases were affected. The Secretary of State set the Agency a milestone target to commence the take on of these cases by the end of 1995. We formally started taking on the remaining cases in November last year, but in practice had already dealt with many of them because the parent with care had either specifically asked us to do so, or had made a repeat claim to a prescribed benefit, and had therefore been treated as a new claim. I expect the rate of special take on of deferred cases to remain steady for the remainder of the financial year. I hope this is helpful.

Ms Lynne

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many incoming telephone calls were made to(a) the Child Support Agency centres and (b) the national inquiry line month by month since September 1994. [11195]

Mr. Mitchell

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 Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 29 January 1996: I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about telephone calls made to the Child Support Agency. The numbers of incoming calls made to Child Support Agency Centre Client Help Lines and the National Enquiry Line for the period requested are set out in the attached table. I hope this is helpful.

Calls made to client help line and national enquiry line from September 1994
Month Calls made to client help line (a) Calls made to national enquiry line (b) Totals
September 1994 274,722 75,952 350,674
October 1994 324,905 65,786 390,691
November 1994 384,181 62,205 446,386
December 1994 365,813 45,393 411,206
January 1995 316,345 69,377 385,722
February 1995 252,743 46,010 298,753
March 1995 300,610 67,148 367,758
April 1995 848,089 76,028 924,117
May 1995 306,152 53,001 359,153
June 1995 205,732 52,229 257,961
July 1995 203,482 56,697 260,179
August 1995 293,351 55,603 348,954
September 1995 499,104 59,639 558,743
October 1995 318,824 55,941 374,765
November 1995 553,986 58,861 612,847
December 1995 446,909 40,327 487,236
Totals 5,894,948 940,197 6,835,145

Ms Lynne

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what changes were made on what dates to the arrangements for answering incoming calls at the Child Support Agency between September 1994 and September 1995; and when they were made. [11181]

Mr. Mitchell

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 Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 29 January 1996: I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about changes made in the arrangements for answering incoming calls received in the Child Support Agency. To improve customer services, management decided to centralise the National Enquiry Line and to create a section within each Child Support Agency Centre (CSAC) that would deal solely with incoming calls. The National Enquiry Line based in Liverpool became fully operational on 21 June 1994 and the Central Call Handling sections with Automatic Call Distribution equipment within each CSAC were fully operational on the following dates:-

  • Belfast: 8 August 1994
  • Birkenhead: 8 August 1994
  • Dudley: 11 July 1994
    • 737
  • Falkirk: 5 September 1994
  • Hastings: 1 August 1994
  • Plymouth: 22 August 1994
I hope this is helpful.

Ms Lynne

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 18 December,Official Report, column 894, how the total figures for reduced benefit directives imposed by each Child Support Agency centre were arrived at. [11194]

Mr. Mitchell

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 Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 29 January 1996:

Good cause accepted Absent parent named Good cause not accepted Reduced benefit direction implemented Investigations completed
Dudley
April 335 63 580 311 978
May 503 98 617 306 1,218
June 450 243 820 389 1,513
July 493 354 548 265 1,395
August 576 371 749 531 1,696
September 541 370 599 464 1,510
October 619 391 682 384 1,692
November 568 386 595 386 1,549
Total 4,085 2,276 5,190 3,036 11,551
Hastings
April 321 n/a 522 721 843
May 460 111 790 785 1,361
June 469 222 723 631 1,414
July 544 219 679 466 1,442
August 472 207 687 361 1,366
September 495 273 582 532 1,350
October 555 300 727 836 1,582
November 540 335 716 537 1,591
Total 3,856 1,667 5,426 4,869 10,949
Falkirk
April 369 94 471 283 934
May 534 161 833 335 1,528
June 626 345 944 242 1,915
July 589 331 645 219 1,565
August 642 408 939 276 1,989
September 633 448 862 306 1,943
October 572 428 757 394 1,757
November 637 463 918 362 2,018
Total 4,602 2,678 6,369 2,417 13,649
Birkenhead
April 389 96 470 510 955
May 556 185 615 511 1,356
June 592 287 713 445 1,592
July 625 361 786 278 1,772
August 582 334 637 430 1,553
September 678 428 686 455 1,792
October 722 536 775 401 2,033
November 801 567 951 382 2,319
Total 4,945 2,794 5,633 3,412 13,372
Belfast
April 418 137 540 260 1,095
May 599 195 740 473 1,534
June 488 271 689 250 1,448

I am reply to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking how the totals for reduced benefit directions (RBD) imposed by each Child Support Agency Centre were arrived at in Official Report, column 894 of 18th December 1995.

I do apologise that having looked again at the totals detailed for the RBD section of the tables provided in the above report, I can see that they were wrong. The sum shown at the bottom of these particular columns is not the the total of the individual figures in them.

I have enclosed an updated version of the full tables supplied by way of answer to your Parliamentary Question set out in Official Report, column 894. You will note that the relevant columns do now show their correct totals. I am very sorry I did not spot this error in my previous reply.

I hope this is helpful.

Good cause accepted Absent parent named Good cause not accepted Reduced benefit direction implemented Investigations completed
July 544 427 680 393 1,651
August 631 425 744 392 1,800
September 668 526 805 336 1,999
October 624 561 736 347 1,921
November 676 780 789 300 2,245
Total 3,348 1,981 4,198 2,751 13,693
Plymouth
April 340 100 452 276 892
May 467 112 617 458 1,196
June 508 216 684 389 1,408
July 494 294 680 392 1,468
August 438 259 575 373 1,272
September 508 267 490 274 1,265
October 450 264 567 474 1,281
November 641 364 559 341 1,564
Total 2,755 1,248 3,498 2,977 10,346

Ms Lynne

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what consultations his Department has had with(a) the Australian and (b) New Zealand Governments on the operation of the Child Support Agency; [11801]

(2) what plans he has to commission research into the workings of the child support agencies of (a) Australia, (b) New Zealand and (c) North America. [11805]

Mr. Mitchell

There have been a number of visits by officials from this Department to Australia and New Zealand to examine their schemes. There have also been discussions with officials from those countries at international conferences on child support and when officials from Australia and New Zealand have visited this country.

Building on these contacts, officials regularly exchange information about their schemes, including the results of studies into the workings of the schemes in the different countries.