§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to seek compensation from the Affinity Consortium for the delay to the Child Support Reforms New Rules Implementation IT project. [46316]
§ Malcolm Wicks[holding answer 26 March 2002]: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Steve Webb, dated 18 April 2002:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply by me.You ask what plans the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has to seek compensation from the Affinity Consortium for the delay to the Child Support Reforms New Rules Implementation IT project.We will take stock of the position when testing is complete and we are able to recommend to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions a revised commencement date for the next phase of Child Support Reforms.
§ Mr. WeirTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many CSA cases have been referred to the Parliamentary Ombudsman in each year since the creation of the agency from(a) the Angus constituency, (b) Scotland and (c) the UK. [31582]
§ Malcolm WicksThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Michael Weir, dated 18 April 2002:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply by me.You have asked how many CSA cases have been referred to the Parliamentary Ombudsman in each year since the creation of the Agency from (a) the Angus Constituency, (b) Scotland and (c) the UK.The Table on the attached annex provides this information.The Parliamentary Ombudsman started recording CSA details late 1995. As details are validated on completion of the cases, due to the backlogs at that time, the first year the Office was confident of accurate figures was 1997 when Agency details were first published in its Annual Report. Therefore figures listed prior to 1997 should be viewed as incomplete records of those years.I hope this is helpful.1213W
Annex 1 Number of CSA cases referred to Parliamentary Ombudsman Year Angus (Constituency cases) Scotland cases Total UK cases 1993–1994 0 1 7 1994–1995 1 8 88 1995–1996 0 34 118 1996–1997 1 28 102
Annex 1 Number of CSA cases referred to Parliamentary Ombudsman Year Angus (Constituency cases) Scotland cases Total UK cases 1997–1998 1 14 67 1998–1999 1 11 51 1999–2000 1 19 102 2000–2001 0 17 76 Source:
Parliamentary Ombudsman's Office and the Child Support Agency's Parliamentary Ombudsman Office Focal Point.
§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are registered with the Child Support Agency; how many people registered in(a) January and (b) February; and how many are forecast to register in April. [45344]
§ Malcolm WicksThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Nigel Evans, dated 18 April 2002:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child support Agency promised a substantive reply by me.You ask how many people are registered with the Child support agency; how many people registered in (a) January and (b) February; and how many are forecast to register in April.The live and assessed caseload for the Agency up to February 2002 was 1,077,800 cases. The number of parents with care who made an application for a maintenance assessment to the Agency in January and February 2002 was 34,086 and 29,681 respectively.We forecast that a further 30,000 parents with care will make an application to the Agency in April 2002.I hope this is helpful.
§ Mr. ToddTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the new CSA computer system was subject to OGC Gateway reviews. [47970]
§ Malcolm WicksThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Mark Todd, dated 18 April 2002:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply by me.You ask whether the new CSA computer system was subject to OGC Gateway reviews.The development of the CSA computer system is part of a broader programme to implement the Child Support Reform programme. Two OGC Gateway reviews of that programme have taken place. The first was from the 23 to 27 April 2001 and the second was from the 22 to 25 January 2002.I hope this is helpful.
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many departures from Child Support Agency assessments have been(a) applied for and (b) approved in each year since the scheme's inception. [51061]
§ Malcolm WicksThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.
1214WLetter from Doug Smith to Mr. Andrew Turner, dated 18 April 2002:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply by me.You ask, how many departures from Child Support Agency assessments have been (a) applied for and (b) approved in each year since the scheme's inception.The table set out below shows the number of Departure applications and awards from the inception of the Departures scheme in December 1996.Figures are for year ending March unless otherwise specified.
Year ending December 1996 to March 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 April 2001 to February 2002 Total Departure Applied for 3,648 21,918 14,889 14,853 17,100 11,840 84,248 Departure Awarded 114 2,360 3,162 6,393 7,049 6,116 25,194 Source:
CSA Performance Management Team
Since April 2000 the Agency has been recording figures of departure applications through the computer system. Figures prior to April 2000 were recorded manually and may be less accurate.I hope this is helpful.
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many parents without care have failed to pay the necessary maintenance to parents with care for(a) six to 12 weeks, (b)12 to 26 weeks and (c) more than 26 weeks in each year since the creation of the Child Support Agency; and what proportion they represent of all parents against whom maintenance orders are kept. [51063]
§ Malcolm WicksThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Andrew Turner, dated 18 April 2002:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply by me.You ask, how many parents without care have failed to pay the necessary maintenance to parents with care for (a) six to 12 weeks (b)12 to 26 weeks and (c) more than 26 weeks in each year since the creation of the Child Support Agency; and what proportion they represent of all parents against whom maintenance orders are kept.I am sorry but information is not available in the format you have requested.The table set out below shows the numbers of full, partial and non compliant non-resident parents for each year end (March). I am unable to supply the same information for earlier years as we did not gather information in that way.
Non-Resident Parent Case Compliance 2000 2001 2002 Full Compliance 165,820 (49.3%) 185,900 (52.9%) 211,000 (60.9%) Partial Compliance 56,340 (16.7%) 52,060 (14.8%) 30,600 (8.8%) Nil Compliance 114,500 (34%) 113,720 (32.3%) 104,800 (30.3%) Source:
CSA Performance Management Team
1215W
I hope this is helpful.
§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the(a) planned cost was and (b) current estimated cost is of the Child Support. Reforms New Rules Implementation IT project. [46315]
§ Malcolm Wicks[holding reply 26 March 2002]: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Steve Webb, dated 18 April 2002:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply by me.You ask what the (a) planned cost was and (b) current estimated cost is of the Child Support Reforms New Rules Implementation IT project andThe planned total cost of the project to implement Child Support Reform over the 10 year period of the business case was £651 million.I am sorry that I cannot provide the planned and current estimated cost of the IT component as it is commercially confidential. As this is a PFI contract and subject to performance criteria the amount of payment will be affected by the level of performance achieved.I am sorry I cannot be more helpful.