§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the current backlog of cases at the CSA. [14227]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyWe expect the Child Support Agency to provide an efficient and effective service to all its clients throughout the child support assessment process. We are looking for substantial and sustained operational improvements from the Agency, in particular on getting more maintenance paid, reducing the backlog and improving customer service.
87WThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mrs. Faith Boardman. She will write to my hon. Friend.
Letter from Mrs. Faith Boardman to Mr. Keith Vaz, dated 14 November 1997:
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question concerning the backlog of cases at the Child Support Agency.Any maintenance application which is over 52 weeks old is considered to form part of the Agency's backlog. At 30 September 1997, there were approximately 199,000 such cases.The Agency has developed and is now implementing a strategy for meeting its undertaking to clear its backlogs. All Business Units have put in place operational plans which will guide them towards the achievement of our stated objective of clearing backlogs by 31 March 1999.The Agency is tackling the backlog of cases. However, we must balance the demands placed on us—to delivery Secretary of State targets, to continue to improve performance and improve customer service—and clearance of the backlogs.I hope this is helpful.
§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what were the staffing levels at the CSA on (i) 1 October 1996 and (ii) 1 October 1997. [14226]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyWe expect the Child Support Agency to provide an efficient and effective service to all its clients throughout the child support assessment process. We are looking for substantial and sustained88W operational improvements from the Agency, in particular on getting more maintenance paid, reducing the backlog and improving customer service.
The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mrs. Faith Boardman. She will write to my hon. Friend.
Letter from Mrs. Faith Boardman to Mr. Keith Vaz, dated 14 November 1997:
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about staffing in the Child Support Agency.Details of Agency staffing levels are collected at the end of each calendar month. The table below shows the number of Agency staff at 30 September 1996 and 30 September 1997. The figures in the table do not include personnel at the Belfast Child Support Agency Centre; staff in this Centre are part of the Northern Ireland Child Support Agency, which provides a service to an area of the mainland on our behalf. The number of such staff at Belfast at 30 September 1996 was 745.91, and the figure for 30 September 1997 was 876.61.
Child support agency staff1 Permanent and fixed term contract staff Casual staff Total 30 September 1996 7,191.6 455.4 7,647 30 September 1997 8,043.2 462.7 8,505.9 1 Figures are an amalgamation of full-time and part-time staff and are expressed as whole time equivalents. I hope this is helpful.