§ Mr. Liddell-GraingerTo ask t#e Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in the Bridgwater constituency who have cases with the Child Support Agency are using(a) the old maintenance payment system and (b) the new maintenance payment system; and if he will make a statement as to when he estimates all people in Bridgwater will be assessed using the new system. [186502]
§ 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. Ian Liddell-Grainger, dated 7 September 2004:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary question 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, how many people in the Bridgwater constituency who have cases with the Child Support Agency are using (a) the old maintenance payment system and (b) the new maintenance payment system; #nd if he will make a statement as to when he estimates all people in Bridgwater will be assessed using the new system.
We do not have the information in the format you have requested. However, I can tell you that in total around 1,890,000 people are involved in cases using the old maintenance payment system and around 480,000 people are involved in cases using the new maintenance payment system. Ministers will make a decision on the bulk transfer of cases from the old scheme when they are satisfied that the new arrangements are working well for new clients. It is not possible to provide a timescale for this.