Lone Parents (Hansard, 26 March 2003)

§ Mr. Frank Field
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of lone parents refused to disclose the details of the father of their child(a) in the year prior to the introduction of the CSA and (b) in the latest year for which he has data. [101498]

§ Malcolm Wicks
The administration for the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to my right hon. Friend.
Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Frank Field, dated March 2003: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent parliamentary question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. You ask what percentage of lone parents refuse to disclose the details of the father of their child (a) in the year prior to the introduction of the CSA and (b) in the latest year for which he has data. I do not have the information to answer this fully. I do however have some relevant information in relation to sole parents who are in receipt of "prescribed benefits". They are obliged to provide information to the Agency. Some parents may not wish to provide this because they have a genuine fear of violence or intimidation from the other parents, or where there are child welfare issues, which would mean that it would not be prudent to contact the other parent. We do not press the parent with care to provide information about the alleged other parent if there are reasonable grounds to believe that to do so may harm or distress the parent with care or any child living with him or her—this is known as "good cause".
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Since 1 April 2002 around 12,000 applications for "good cause" have been accepted.

§ Ms Buck
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what barriers to work he has identified as facing lone parents in London more than in other regions. [96895]

§ Mr. Nicholas Brown
Understanding how employment constraints facing lone parents in London compare to other areas is complex. We have commissioned research into this issue¹ and this research found that lone parents in London reported the same barriers to work as lone parents elsewhere in the country.
The three main barriers to moving into work reported by lone parents are availability and cost of child care, concerns about financial uncertainty on moving into work and the cost of housing and council tax. We have introduced a number of measures to help lone parents to overcome these barriers, including the National Childcare Strategy and Tax Credits, which are helping to make work possible and make work pay.
We are continuing to examine the problems lone parents face when moving from benefit dependency into work and finding ways of helping them to overcome them. The New Deal for Lone Parents (NDLP) provides support tailored to the individual circumstances of lone parents, which takes into account any particular problems they face because of the area that they live in. NDLP has already helped over 160,000 lone parents move into work, including over 16,000 in London.
¹ "Investigating Low Labour Market Participation Among Lone Parents in London: A Review of the Methods" by William O'Connor and Richard Boreham published in November 2002 in DWP's In-house Research Report No 104.

§ Mr. Frank Field
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average weekly payment for lone parents(a) not in receipt of income support and (b) in receipt of income support of child maintenance is as determined by the courts and the CSA (i) in the year prior to the introduction of the CSA and (ii) in the latest year for which he has data in current price terms. [101499]

§ Malcolm Wicks
Such information as is available is as follows:
The average weekly payment of child maintenance in 1992 in cases where the lone parent was in receipt of Income Support was, in 2002 prices, £28.35.
The average weekly payment of child support maintenance in 2002 in cases where the lone parent was not in receipt of Income Support was £43.70.
The average weekly payment of child support maintenance in 2002 in cases where the lone parent was in receipt of Income Support was £36.23.
Notes:
1. For the estimates for 2002, the data is taken from quarterly 5 per cent. samples of the Child Support Computer System (CSCS) from February 2002 to November 2002 and so is subject to a degree of sampling error.
2. The 2002 estimates are based on cases with Full Maintenance Assessments.
3. For the 2002 estimates, cases where the maintenance assessments are at zero have not been included.
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4. For the 1992 estimate, information is drawn from the Income Support Annual Statistical Enquiry, which is information at a point in time in the year; in 1992 the Annual Statistical enquiry took place in May.

§ Mr. Frank Field
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of lone parents not in receipt of income support received regular maintenance payments for their children(a) in the year prior to the introduction of the CSA and (b) in the latest year for which he has data. [101501]

§ Malcolm Wicks
Information is not available for the year prior to the introduction of the CSA.
In 2002, 64 per cent. of lone parents who are parents with care and who were not in receipt of Income Support received maintenance payments.
Notes:
1. Data is taken from the four quarterly 5 per cent. samples of the Child Support Computer System from February 2002 to November 2002 and so may be subject to a degree of sampling error.
2. Payments in respect of both interim and full maintenance assessments are taken into account in the calculation.
3. Cases where the parent with care receives payments directly from the non-resident parent and those where there has been no charge to the account (luring the quarter have not been included in the analysis.