§ Mr. CoakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if a client of the Child Support Agency may request the agency to close his case prior to the introduction of the new scheme with the intention of re-applying after April 2002. [146600]
§ Angela EagleThe Child Support Agency may close a child support case when asked to do so by the person who originally made the application, provided that the parent with care is not in receipt of Income Support or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance.
The new child support scheme will start first for new cases from April 2002. Existing cases will be transferred at a later date once we are sure that the new scheme is working well and changes in the levels of assessment will be phased in.
If an existing case is closed before conversion to the new scheme, any fresh application made within 13 weeks will lead to an old scheme maintenance assessment, followed by conversion to the new scheme on the same date as other existing assessments. It would not be right for existing clients to be able to manipulate the rules for their own advantage by going off the books for short periods.
289W
§ Mr. Alan SimpsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what increase in resources the CSA plans for the Independent Case Examiner; [147004]
(2) what are the processing times by the Independent Case Examiner for the CSA for cases referred (a) by a Member of Parliament and (b) by members of the public; [147005]
(3) how many CSA cases have been referred to the Independent Case Examiner for each year since its establishment; what was the annual funding for the ICE since its inception; how many outstanding cases are with the ICE; and what is the waiting time for ICE referred cases to be processed. [146924]
§ Angela EagleThe current clearance time for cases referred to the Independent Case Examiner by Members of Parliament and members of the public is 29 weeks. This is an improvement on the financial year 1999–2000 when clearance took 33.7 weeks on average. Additional funding was allocated in September 2000 for the recruitment of seven extra staff. The office of the Independent Case Examiner is currently in the process of recruiting the extra staff, which will result in a 17 per cent. increase in investigative resources.
The office of the Independent Case Examiner opened in April 1997. There are currently 227 cases awaiting investigation. Cases referred currently wait around 11 weeks for an investigation to begin.
Annual funding figures and the number of complaints received Financial year Complaints received Annual funding (£) 1997–98 1,087 11,025,675 1998–99 1,226 1920,960 1999–2000 1,536 11,176,040 2000–01 (to date) 1,195 11,176,040 1Actual costs
§ Mr. CoakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the average waiting time is for clients awaiting investigations by the Independent Case Examiner's Office looking at the work of the CSA; and if he will make a statement. [146506]
§ Angela EagleCases referred to the Independent Case Examiner currently wait around 11 weeks for investigation to begin. Average clearance times are currently around 29 weeks overall. Additional funding was allocated in September 2000, representing a 17 per cent. increase in investigative resources.