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Highway Maintenance Contracts
Mr. Butterfill: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many contracts for the maintenance of highways in Scotland have been put out to public tender; what proportion of the contracts now let on this basis have been won (i) by private contractors and (ii) by local authority consortia; and if he will make a statement. [11846]
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
[holding answer 29 January 1996]: There have been eight contracts for the maintenance of trunk roads in Scotland that have been put out to public tender by the Scottish Office; three of the contracts have been awarded to local authority consortia; and the remaining five contracts are currently being assessed.
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Motability
Mr. Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the Schroeders merchant bank report on Motability Finance Ltd. [5092]
Mr. Burt: The Schroeders merchant bank report was commissioned by the governors of Motability and is confidential to them.
Mr. Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when his Department expects to agree the National Audit Office report on Motability and its associated financial arms. [5138]
Mr. Burt: The NAO study on Motability has been received in draft and we are currently discussing with the National Audit Office a timetable for clearance.
Mr. Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if Motability controls the moneys in the Motability 10th anniversary fund. [5142]
Mr. Burt: No. The Motability Tenth Anniversary Trust is an independent charity and a registered company. Its moneys are controlled by trustees who are appointed by Motability, the Secretary of State for Social Security and by the bankers who fund the Motability scheme.
Child Support Agency
Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many of the Child Support Agency cases deferred in December 1994 were taken on in (a) November 1995 and (b) December 1995; and what he estimates to be the month-by-month take-up until the end of the current financial year. [10182]
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 29 January 1996:
30 Jan 1996 : Column: 736
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the take on of Child Support Agency cases deferred in December 1994.
The special take on of such cases in November and December 1995 was as follows:
November 1995--292
December 1995--178
As you are aware at the time of deferral some 340,000 cases were affected. The Secretary of State set the Agency a milestone target to commence the take on of these cases by the end of 1995. We formally started taking on the remaining cases in November last year, but in practice had already dealt with many of them because the parent with care had either specifically asked us to do so, or had made a repeat claim to a prescribed benefit, and had therefore been treated as a new claim.
I expect the rate of special take on of deferred cases to remain steady for the remainder of the financial year.
I hope this is helpful.
Ms Lynne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many incoming telephone calls were made to (a) the Child Support Agency centres and (b) the national inquiry line month by month since September 1994. [11195]
Mr. Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 29 January 1996:
Ms Lynne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what changes were made on what dates to the arrangements for answering incoming calls at the Child Support Agency between September 1994 and September 1995; and when they were made. [11181]
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about telephone calls made to the Child Support Agency.
The numbers of incoming calls made to Child Support Agency Centre Client Help Lines and the National Enquiry Line for the period requested are set out in the attached table.
I hope this is helpful.
Month Calls made to client help line (a) Calls made to national enquiry line (b) Totals
September 1994 274,722 75,952 350,674
October 1994 324,905 65,786 390,691
November 1994 384,181 62,205 446,386
December 1994 365,813 45,393 411,206
January 1995 316,345 69,377 385,722
February 1995 252,743 46,010 298,753
March 1995 300,610 67,148 367,758
April 1995 848,089 76,028 924,117
May 1995 306,152 53,001 359,153
June 1995 205,732 52,229 257,961
July 1995 203,482 56,697 260,179
August 1995 293,351 55,603 348,954
September 1995 499,104 59,639 558,743
October 1995 318,824 55,941 374,765
November 1995 553,986 58,861 612,847
December 1995 446,909 40,327 487,236
Totals 5,894,948 940,197 6,835,145
Mr. Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 29 January 1996:
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I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about changes made in the arrangements for answering incoming calls received in the Child Support Agency.
To improve customer services, management decided to centralise the National Enquiry Line and to create a section within each Child Support Agency Centre (CSAC) that would deal solely with incoming calls.
The National Enquiry Line based in Liverpool became fully operational on 21 June 1994 and the Central Call Handling sections with Automatic Call Distribution equipment within each CSAC were fully operational on the following dates:-
Belfast: 8 August 1994
Birkenhead: 8 August 1994
Dudley: 11 July 1994
Falkirk: 5 September 1994
Hastings: 1 August 1994
Plymouth: 22 August 1994
Ms Lynne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 18 December, Official Report, column 894, how the total figures for reduced benefit directives imposed by each Child Support Agency centre were arrived at. [11194]
I hope this is helpful.
Mr. Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 29 January 1996:
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30 Jan 1996 : Column: 737
30 Jan 1996 : Column: 739
30 Jan 1996 : Column: 739
I am reply to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking how the totals for reduced benefit directions (RBD) imposed by each Child Support Agency Centre were arrived at in Official report, column 894 of 18th December 1995.
I do apologise that having looked again at the totals detailed for the RBD section of the tables provided in the above report, I can see that they were wrong. The sum shown at the bottom of these particular columns is not the the total of the individual figures in them.
I have enclosed an updated version of the full tables supplied by way of answer to your Parliamentary Question set out in Official Report, column 894. You will note that the relevant columns do now show their correct totals. I am very sorry I did not spot this error in my previous reply.
I hope this is helpful.
Ms Lynne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what consultations his Department has had with (a) the Australian and (b) New Zealand Governments on the operation of the Child Support Agency; [11801]
- (2) what plans he has to commission research into the workings of the child support agencies of (a) Australia, (b) New Zealand and (c) North America. [11805]
Mr. Mitchell: There have been a number of visits by officials from this Department to Australia and New Zealand to examine their schemes. There have also been discussions with officials from those countries at international conferences on child support and when officials from Australia and New Zealand have visited this country.
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