Child Support (Hansard, 20 July 1999)

§ Mr. Jim Cunningham
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what plans he has to reform the Child Support Act 1991; [91594]
(2) what plans he has to encourage parents to reach amicable agreements with free help and advice provided by the Government, in the matter of child maintenance. [91595]

§ Angela Eagle
The White Paper "A new contract for welfare: Children's Rights and Parents Responsibilities" (Cm 4349) published on 1 July 1999 sets out our plans to reform the child support system. We are creating a new, customer focused, child support service that will be simple, easy to understand, and ensure that more children receive regular and reliable maintenance.
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Parents not on benefit will, as now, be free to make their own arrangements without involving the Child Support Agency, where necessary using the new, simple child support rates as a guideline.
Under the provision of Part III of the Family Law Act 1996 publicly funded mediation is available for disputes relating to children and property arising on divorce or separation. These provisions are being implemented on an area by area basis throughout England and Wales.

§ Mr. Field
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many Child Support Agency cases were uncleared after(a) 78 weeks and (b) 104 weeks on 31 March; [92147]
(2) how many, and what proportion of, applications for maintenance to the Child Support Agency dating from after (a) 31 March 1997, (b) 30 September 1997 and (c) 31 March 1998 were uncleared 52 weeks later. [92148]

§ Angela Eagle
The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mrs. Faith Boardman. She will write to my right hon. Friend.
Letter from Mrs. Faith Boardman to Mr. Frank Field, dated 20 July 1999: I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the Child Support Agency. The information requested in your questions is not available. Whilst the Agency maintains systems to monitor and report on performance, the specific figures you have asked for would require a scan of our computer system. This would take several weeks to arrange and deflect resources from other important development work. In 1998/99 the Agency had a Secretary of State's target to have no applications over 52 weeks old by 31 March 1999. All Business Units put in place operational plans that were to guide them towards the achievement of this objective. The introduction of automated management information systems and the subsequent exercise to check and correct the status of our cases identified that the original estimate of 225,000 backlog cases (i.e. over 52 weeks old) was considerably understated. In fact CSA cleared 324,859 cases, but did not achieve a nil backlog. This left 47,720 cases outstanding at 31 March 1999. The Agency's ability to clear all these cases was impacted by "new" cases becoming over 52 weeks old and because those cases outstanding tend to be older, more complex cases which are difficult to progress. The introduction of Decision Making and Appeals (DMA) in June 1999 will significantly help the Agency to maintain a normal level of work. I hope this is helpful.