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Pembroke Power Station

Mr. Ainger: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he plans to announce his decision on the section 36 application to burn orimulsion at Pembroke power station before 1 May. [21582]

Mr. Lang: I am considering, against the background of the published guidance on procedure and conduct during the general election period, all the material submitted by the applicant and interested parties. I cannot yet say when a decision will be taken.

SOCIAL SECURITY

Child Support Agency

Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will update his answer of 20 June 1996, Official Report, column 594, regarding incoming telephone calls to the Child Support Agency. [21474]

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant CB. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 21 March 1997:

I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security regarding incoming telephone calls to the Child Support Agency.

The latest information available shows that during the period 1 February 1997 to 28 February 1997 the total calls offered by British Telecom to the Agency was 1,622,542.

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 in each month since January 1996. [21466]

Mr. Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant CB. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 21 March 1997:

I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the number of incoming telephone calls made to the Child Support Centres and the National Enquiry Line (NEL) since January 1996.

The attached table contains the number of incoming calls on a monthly basis from January 1996. From April 1996, the period of time over which information is collected changed; information is now collected and recorded over four-weekly periods instead of calendar months.

The attached figures refer to incoming calls offered by BT which represents the total number of incoming calls made.

I hope this is helpful.

Date	Calls offered to calls handling service by BT	Calls offered to NEL by BT
January 1996	776,796	57,352
February 1996	518,573	84,553
March 1996	423,383	190,054
Lunar month 1	648,908	49,349
Lunar month 2	639,314	52,564
Lunar month 3	761,822	54,061
Lunar month 4	839,703	61,459
Lunar month 5	950,697	62,532
Lunar month 6	1,426,839	38,419
Lunar month 7	1,527,399	72,332
Lunar month 8	1,342,146	69,171
Lunar month 9	1,774,091	86,995
Lunar month 10	627,359	42,816
Lunar month 11	1,394,469	77,589
Lunar month 12	1,622,542	96,824

21 Mar 1997 : Column: 1015

Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list for each month since April 1995 the number of deduction of earnings orders (a) imposed by the Child Support Agency, (b) in force at the end of each month and (c) lifted each month. [21467]

Mr. Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant CB. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 21 March 1997:

I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about Child Support Agency deduction from earnings orders.

Not all of the requested information is readily available. I have attached a table showing a monthly breakdown since April 1995 of the number of new deduction from earnings orders issued.

I hope this is helpful.

	Number of DEOs issued
April 1995	2,384
May 1995	3,516
June 1995	3,357
July 1995	3,851
August 1995	4,861
September 1995	4,097
October 1995	4,934
November 1995	6,703
December 1995	4,174
January 1996	5,400
February 1996	5,360
March 1996	4,294
Total 1995-96	52,931
April 1996	3,416
May 1996	3,806
June 1996	4,218
July 1996	4,100
August 1996	4,667
September 1996	5,077
October 1996	5,166
November 1996	6,767
December 1996	4,287
January 1997	6,310
February 1997	5,077
	Total April 1996 to February 1997 52,891

Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many child support assessments (a) were being processed, and (b) were outstanding for more than 26 weeks at the end of each month since April 1996. [21468]

21 Mar 1997 : Column: 1016

Mr. Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant CB. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 21 March 1997:

I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about Child Support Agency assessments.

I am unable to provide you with precisely the information that you have requested. The Agency measures its performance on the clearance of assessments against its Secretary of State target for 60% of new maintenance applications to be cleared within 26 weeks, and as at 31 March 1997 no more than 10% of all maintenance applications received to be over 52 weeks old.

The attached table gives details of the Agency's performance against this target, together with the number of cases being actioned at the end of each month from April 1996.

I hope this is helpful.

	Number of cases being actioned	Percentage of maintenance assessments cleared within 26 weeks	Percentage of maintenance assessments over 52 weeks old
April 1996	422,454	53	15
May 1996	428,244	52	15
June 1996	435,603	51	16
July 1996	440,741	51	15
August 1996	449,852	51	15
September 1996	456,810	51	15
October 1996	456,590	51	15
November 1996	451,608	51	14
December 1996	441,784	51	14
January 1997	432,150	52	13
February 1997	418,369	53	13

Mr. McAllion: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many outstanding cases are being processed by the Child Support Agency; and how many were being processed on the same date in each of the last three years. [20169]

Mr. Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant C.B. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Mr. John McAllion, dated 21 March 1997:

I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about cases being actioned by the Child Support Agency.

To give a complete picture, set out in the table below are the numbers of cases which form the caseload of the Agency, the number of cases cleared from launch and the number being actioned at the end of the last three financial years, together with figures at the end of February 1997.

	Approximate caseload(45)	Number of cases cleared from launch (cumulative)	Number of cases being actioned
March 1994	203,600	336,232	550,000
March 1995	345,400	904,381	425,561
March 1996	460,800	1,231,235	409,659
February 1997	545,900	1,553,308	418,369

(45) Figures quoted are from the nearest published Quarterly Statistical Survey.

I hope this is helpful.

21 Mar 1997 : Column: 1017

Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list for each month since April 1994 the number of (a) referrals from the Child Support Agency to the Independent Tribunal Service, (b) referrals outstanding for more than 26 weeks, (c) referrals where the Independent Tribunal Service found in favour of (1) the client and (2) the Child Support Agency and (d) recommendations made by the Independent Tribunal Service which were (i) accepted and (ii) not accepted by the Child Support Agency. [21469]

Mr. Mitchell: I will write to the hon. Member shortly.

Income Support (Pensioners)

Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many pensioners in the constituencies of Roxburgh and Berwickshire and of Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale have been claiming (a) pensioner, (b) enhanced pensioner and (c) higher pensioner income support premiums at (i) higher and (ii) lower levels for each of the past five years for which figures are available. [21535]

Mr. Roger Evans: The administration of income support is a matter for Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Archy Kirkwood, dated 21 March 1997:

The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many pensioners in the constituencies of Roxburgh and Berwickshire and Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale have been claiming (a) pensioners, (b) enhanced pensioner and (c) higher pensioner income support premiums at (i) higher and (ii) lower levels for each of the past five years for which figures are available.

The information requested is not available in the format requested. The Benefits Agency (BA) collates statistics by BA Districts and not by Parliamentary constituencies. Information for East Lowlands District which includes offices at Edinburgh South, Edinburgh East and Galashiels is shown in the attached table.

I hope you find this reply helpful.

Income support customers in receipt of pensioner premiums for the Benefit Agency District of East Lowlands

Income support	Higher pensioner premium	Enhanced pensioner premium	Pensioner premium
February 1993	3,257	1,394	3,185
February 1994	3,685	1,354	3,223
February 1995	4,267	1,247	3,318
February 1996	4,660	1,175	3,285
November 1996(46)	4,834	1,121	3,211

Date has been provided by the Benefits Agency Central Data Unit and is subject to change.

Data relates to the actual number of people in receipt of each of the Income Support pensioner premiums as at the last working day of each month for the BA District of East Lowlands. This District includes the BA's offices of Edinburgh East, Edinburgh South and Galashiels.

(46) Validated data is not available for February 1997.

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