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SOCIAL SECURITY
Child Support
13. Mr. Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many parents with care and in receipt of income support are also receiving child support. [32984]
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The latest available information shows that 267,500 cases involve parents with care assessed to receive child support who are in receipt of income support.
24. Mrs. Bridget Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the number of absent parents who should be paying child support who are currently paying nothing; and what proportion of the total this represents. [32997]
Mr. Mitchell: Some 203,000 absent parents should be paying full child support maintenance assessments and 55,400--27 per cent.--are not currently paying. A further 73,000 absent parents should be paying interim maintenance assessments and 85 per cent. of them are not paying anything.
Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many former liable relative cases are currently under the responsibility of the Child Support Agency; and how many of these cases do not have a full maintenance assessment. [33774]
Mr. Mitchell: This information is not available.
Mr. Jacques Arnold: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what changes he intends to make to the legislation governing reduced benefit directions for those who fail, without good cause, to co-operate with child support provisions. [34662]
Mr. Mitchell: We propose that reduced benefit directions should be increased to 40 per cent. of the adult income support personal allowance for three years, the penalty to be repeated at the end of each three-year period should the parent still be on benefit and unwilling to co-operate. We also propose to remove the six week cooling off period before the imposition of a reduced benefit direction from those parents with care who do not make written representations about their failure to comply. Amending legislation will be brought forward as part of a package of child support regulations which we intend to lay before the House on 26 June.
I believe that these changes will act as a disincentive to parents with care who are minded to collude with the absent parent to avoid child support maintenance and
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encourage more parents with care to make contact with the Child Support Agency. The changes will be introduced alongside a range of operational improvements which are intended to make the processes involved and the advantages of co-operation clearer to parents with care.
17. Mr. Mike O'Brien:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security on how many occasions the Child Support agency has provided inaccurate assessments of liability. [32990]
Mr. Andrew Mitchell:
The information requested is not available. However, significant improvements have been made by the agency and, as at the end of March this year, the accuracy level stood at 79 per cent.
28. Mr. Bennett:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what changes he plans to the regulations governing the Child Support Agency. [33001]
Mr. Mitchell:
I refer the hon. Member to the oral answer that I gave today to my hon. Friend the Member for Gravesham (Mr. Arnold).
14. Mr. Gallie:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of Operation Spotlight in Edinburgh on social security fraud; and if he will make a statement. [32985]
Mr. Heald:
The campaign in Edinburgh received strong public support. Savings of £2.6 million have so far been recorded for the four-week period which compares with £5.6 million for the whole of last year. The hotline received over 900 calls, which will result in further savings. National insurance arrears of more than £400,000 were found.
Mr. Cartiss:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to introduce Operation Spotlight in Great Yarmouth to tackle fraud by social security claimants; and if he will make a statement. [32971]
Mr. Heald:
I announced on Wednesday 19 June that the "Spotlight on Benefit Cheats" campaign would operate in Great Yarmouth from 1 July to 26 July.
The campaign, which began in April this year, has been very successful. By 21 June, 11 separate areas of the country had been targeted, seven of them having completed their operational phase and an estimated £16.5 million of benefit fraud having been stopped.
15. Mr. Illsley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what representations he has received regarding the inclusion of student loan income in the calculation of income with respect to benefit claims. [32986]
Mr. Burt:
We have received a number of representations on this issue.
18. Mr. Robert Ainsworth:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people in 1979 were living on (a) half or (b) less than half of the average income in that year. [32991]
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Mr. Burt:
The number of people with incomes below half the mean has risen from 4.4 million in 1979 to 11.4 million in 1992-93, before housing costs, and from 5 million to 14.1 million, after housing costs. Much of this rise was due to the 36 per cent. increase in average income.
19. Sir Geoffrey Johnson Smith:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimates he has made of how much his social security reforms will save by the end of the century; and if he will make a statement. [32992]
Mr. Burt:
The major reforms announced to date are expected to reduce public spending by around £5 billion a year in today's prices by the turn of the century and by £15 billion in the longer term.
20. Mr. Miller:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the number of children in families seeking asylum who will not receive child benefit this year under the regulations. [32993]
Mr. Andrew Mitchell:
I refer the hon. Member to my oral answer earlier today, to the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, North-East (Mr. Purchase).
21. Dr. Lynne Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the ability of families and individuals living on income support to afford a healthy diet. [32994]
Mr. Roger Evans:
A wide range of foodstuffs is available at affordable prices and a healthy diet is obtainable within the means of anyone receiving income support.
22. Mr. Welsh:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what discussions took place on the Housing Benefit (General) Amendment Regulations 1996 between his officials and the Scottish Office. [32995]
Mr. Roger Evans:
From the time that the housing benefit proposals were announced, officials of this Department were in touch with those in the Scottish Office. The hon. Gentleman raised the issue of an exemption for care leavers in Scotland when these regulations were debated in the House on 5 June. In my response to his concern, I assured him that parallel legislation to cover Scottish care leavers will be put in place to come into force on 7 October 1996.
26. Mr. Marlow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the cost to local authorities for the adaptations needed to their computer systems as a result of changes in housing benefit regulations. [32999]
Mr. Roger Evans:
The estimated cost to local authorities for adaptations to their computer systems arising from changes in the housing benefit regulations to be implemented during 1996 is £5.5 million, which has been met by central Government funds in full.
25 Jun 1996 : Column: 111
23. Mr. Nicholas Winterton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on private pension provision. [32996]
Mr. Heald:
Pensions funds are of huge importance for the country and its people. UK funds amount to nearly £600 billion--more than in all the other countries in the European Union put together. By providing security and enhancing choice, the measures in the Pensions Act 1995 will create the environment necessary for funded occupational and personal pensions to continue to thrive.
25. Mr. Bellingham:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has for recovering overpayments by benefit recipients. [32998]
Mr. Roger Evans:
It remains the Department's policy that when a recoverable overpayment occurs, the Department will obtain recovery of the amount quickly and by the most cost-effective method, without causing hardship.
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