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Angela Eagle: We need to bear in mind in our deliberations the fact that the Bill will undoubtedly deliver a simpler and more effective system of child support, and because of it, more than 1 million children will gain. We are all in favour of targets. The only thing that divides the Government and the Opposition in this debate is where and how they should be set and in what context.
I thank Opposition Members who have observed that there have been some improvements in the Child Support Agency. It is true that there have been huge improvements in its attempts to deliver a very difficult administrative
system. The hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) mentioned the telephone answering service. I can tell the House that, in 1996, only 1 per cent. of calls were answered promptly--
Mr. Kevin Hughes (Doncaster, North):
If at all.
Angela Eagle:
My hon. Friend is right. That figure is now up to 70 per cent. Although all hon. Members have noticed some significant improvements, we know that there is a great deal more to do. Nobody is in favour of delays and arrears. We are all too familiar from our constituency postbags with the delays and poor service that the CSA, struggling with its current formula, can provide. The child support scheme has failed parents and children alike, and that is why we are revisiting the subject to try to get it right. Clearly, given our experience, it is our duty to bear administrative simplicity in mind when redesigning the system. The radical simplification of the way in which child support liability is assessed, by replacing the complex assessment formula with a straightforward one, will help a great deal.
The new clause is unnecessary. In the reformed child support scheme, we expect the agency to make maintenance calculations within days and to get maintenance flowing in an average of four to six weeks rather than up to six months, as now. Clearly, by the time six months have elapsed, non-resident parents face difficulties having accrued arrears through no fault of their own.
Mr. Pickles:
Would it be fair to say that the hon. Lady is rejecting the new clause as unnecessary because delays will not occur under the new system?
Angela Eagle:
If the hon. Gentleman is patient, I shall come on to explain why the new clause is unnecessary. I am disagreeing not with the requirement for targets but with the way in which the new clause would put them into effect and with some of the perverse effects that that would have. Indeed, the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr. Robertson) pointed one out: if the agency had to ensure that all--that is the word used in the new clause--payments were made within a set time, regardless of how difficult a case might be, that might create a perverse incentive not to pursue some cases. Such cases would be bound not to fall within the target. The hon. Member for St. Ives (Mr. George) mentioned some of the difficulties and sensitivities of setting targets fairly.
We are looking at a target of four to six weeks rather than six months in which to get maintenance flowing. The faster turnround of cases will get it flowing more quickly and reliably, and that is the aim underpinning the changes. The new clause would mean that the agency would be legally bound to deal with all cases referred to it in a set target time, regardless of whether the parents were co-operating, of why the delay had occurred and of the normal peaks and troughs in the number of separated parents applying for maintenance.
If the wording of the new clause is taken literally, a target embracing the clearance of "all" cases would have to be set at the level of the most difficult case if it were to be remotely realistic. A more demanding target would lead the agency to devote a disproportionate level of its resources to clearing such cases, substantially worsening the position for those who would otherwise expect quick and effective decisions. That would be counter- productive.
The chief executive of the CSA is rightly accountable to Parliament for the performance of her agency and details of its performance against each of its targets are published in its annual report. The performance of the agency is also subject to the scrutiny of the Public Accounts Committee and the Select Committee on Social Security. Requiring the CSA to meet what might be inflexible clearance-time targets that were set in isolation from other targets, such as those relating to accuracy, would simply not be sensible.
The new clause would also require the agency to pay compensation to parents where the agency failed to meet its statutory clearance targets regardless of the cause of the delay. As hon. Members will be aware, the Department of Social Security, in common with other Departments, has a discretionary compensation scheme, which provides financial redress to anyone who has suffered financial loss, harm or suffering as a result of poor administration.
Mr. Pickles:
I think that the Minister has misread the terms of the new clause. It says:
Angela Eagle:
The hon. Gentleman did not deal in detail with that aspect of the new clause when he moved it. However, it refers to "all cases". There is no distance between us on the need for the CSA to have targets. Those targets should be published and should be made available. The CSA should then prove to the rest of us--its accountability is well set out--that it is capable of meeting those targets. I do not think that the new clause would assist that process, and we do not want the targets to be set in legislation. They are normally set by a Secretary of State and reported on in annual reports, but they certainly do not appear in secondary legislation. If they did, that would make them inflexible.
Compensation is already paid and, last year, it amounted to more than £4.5 million. There is nothing between us on the setting of targets and I am not saying that we will not set very rigorous targets for the CSA. However, we do not want to set them in legislation; we want them to be set in the normal way. I assure the hon. Gentleman that the CSA will be accountable.
Mr. Pickles:
I am most grateful to the Minister. She says that there is consensus on the setting of targets, and she is absolutely right about that. Everyone agrees that the targets should be reasonable. We do not want to place the CSA and even Ministers in a difficult position. We argue that realistic targets should be set.
There is, however, a difference of opinion between us. She says that if targets are not met for individuals, nothing will happen. We argue that people should be entitled to compensation, but when I said that nothing would happen, the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) shook his head. I am not sure what would happen. Perhaps a report would be written, perhaps the CSA would have to appear before a Select Committee and receive a grilling or perhaps it would be the subject of an audit from the Public Accounts Committee. However, such processes are meaningless to ordinary members of the public, because they are blissfully unaware of them.
We have debated this issue before and we must remember that the individuals involved are ordinary folk who want to achieve justice from the system. They are not concerned whether an official whom they consider to be highly paid appears before a Select Committee and receives a bit of a grilling from even more highly paid politicians. They are thinking, "I've been waiting a month and nothing has happened. Why not? I haven't received any compensation or an apology. I've received nothing."
Mr. Swayne:
The Minister, in putting her case, set out what targets she will seek to achieve for the length of time taken to process an application. Does my hon. Friend consider those targets reasonable, as the Minister does, or does he have alternatives?
Mr. Pickles:
Well, we do not know what targets the Minister will set. We have had a vague promise that targets will be set.
Angela Eagle:
We shall publish the targets. Clearly, they will not be a state secret. Targets for the CSA and all agencies within the Department of Social Security are published, so I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the process will be open.
Mr. Pickles:
I am sure that receiving the targets will not be a case of meeting at the crossroads at midnight. I am sure that they will be published.
Mr. Swayne:
Given that the targets will be published and that the Minister complained that it would be inappropriate to set targets in the Bill, there can be no objection to the new clause because it does not require targets to be included in the Bill. It merely requires the Secretary of State to set targets.
The Secretary of State shall, by regulations, set a target time within which the Child Support Agency shall deal with all cases referred to it.
That means all the various categories. The Secretary of State will set the targets for the various categories and it is a perverse reading of the true meaning of the new clause to suggest that a target must be set for every single case. The new clause would mean that targets would be set for the various categories. If that is what it means, all the Minister's objections to it will be swept aside.
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