§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his Oral Statement of 11 February 2004 to the Work and Pensions Select Committee on the Child Support Agency reforms, when the IT recovery programme(a) began and (b) will be completed; and if he will make a statement. [169399]
§ Mr. PondThe administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Steve Webb, dated 21 May 2004:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary questions about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Oral Statement of 11th February, to the Work and Pensions Select Committee on the Child Support Agency reforms, when the IT recovery programme (a) began and (b) will be completed; and if he will make a statement.
Since November 2003 we have been involved with EDS to agree the scope, design and development schedule for their programme to remedy issues associated with their provision of a computer service to support the Child Support Reform programme. This has led to enhancements to the main system in January and March and to the work management and telephony system (again in January and March). They have currently planned a further major software release in June. We are still discussing the final content and delivery timetable of subsequent enhancements.