§ Mr. ToddTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what the average time is that the Child Support Agency has taken to produce a substantive reply to correspondence in the last 12 months for which figures are available: [59701]
(2) what steps have been taken to guarantee a response from the Child Support Agency to a correspondent within five working days. [59702]
§ 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 17 June 2002:
The Se retary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary Questions about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply by me.
You ask two questions of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions:
what the average time the Child Support Agency has taken to produce a substantive reply to correspondence in the last 12 months for which figures are available is; andwhat steps have been taken to guarantee a response from the Child Support Agency to a correspondent within five working days.I am sorry but information is not gathered in the format you have requested.
The 2001/2002 target for customer correspondence was to reply to 70% of correspondence within 10 days. In the event 82% of correspondence was replied to within 10 days.
The Child Support Reform Programme is intended to create a step improvement in the level of service provided to customers. This is a large undertaking and its implementation will be the prime focus of the Agency in the coming year. Against that background we are not, in the short term, looking to improve the timeliness of our responses to correspondence.
I hope this is helpful.