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Widowers' Benefits
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many ex gratia payments have been made by his Department in respect of benefits for widowers in each of the last five years. [116881]
Angela Eagle: One widower has been paid ex gratia payments of widows' benefits in the current year. No other such payments have been made in the last five years.
Workplace Parking
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many workplace car parking spaces are available at the buildings used and controlled by his Department. [116766]
Mr. Bayley: There is a total of 29,960 car parking spaces at 492 buildings used and controlled by the Department. These buildings are where either the Department is the sole occupier or buildings where the Department is the major occupier and other Government Departments or private tenants share the premises.
We are preparing Green Transport Plans for our key buildings in line with the commitment set out in the Transport White Paper and are reviewing the scope for reducing our car parking requirements in that context.
Websites
Mr. Maclennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the expenditure incurred by his Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies on (a) the setting up and (b) the operation of websites, indicating the cases in which the expenditure has been above that budgeted; and if he will list for each website (i) the topics which have been covered, (ii) the current average number of hits per month and (iii) the estimated expenditure on each website for each of the next three years. [115842]
Angela Eagle:
The Department and its agencies use the internet as one of a variety of methods to communicate with the public. The DSS website is updated regularly and includes separate webpages for the individual agencies and others. The website covers numerous topics and contains over 3,000 pages providing a range of information on benefits, complaints procedures and corporate documentation such as press releases, Ministerial speeches and Agency business plans.
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The Departmental website is currently under development and is due to be relaunched shortly to take account of the Department's priorities in delivering services to its identified client groups. £245,000 has been allocated from the Departmental publicity budgets for this relaunch to ensure the DSS website meets Government website standards and addresses the criticisms voiced in the NAO report. Ongoing departmental costs at this stage are not yet finalised but are likely to change to reflect the need to improve content and service provision.
The information that is available on costings and visits to the website are shown in the tables. To provide further breakdowns of the figures and costings would incur disproportionate costs.
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| £000 | |
|---|---|
| Approximate costs | |
| Initial start up costs (including staff and resources for the launch of the service) | 430 |
| Annual cost for service and maintenance | 80 |
| Costs for annual licence | 50 |
Note:
These costs are only available for the Department as a whole and are borne by the Information Technology Services Agency who undertake a corporate role with respect to DSS Internet service provision.
| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Average hits (departmental) | 2,510,316 |
| Estimated average user sessions (departmental) | 636,967 |
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| Topics | |
|---|---|
| BA site | Benefit Information, Local office details, reports and leaflets, Press Releases, Customer Charter, Complaint Procedures, Pension Forecasting Information, Feedback section |
| CSA site | Child Support Maintenance leaflets, CSA publications, frequently asked questions and answers and CSA contact details |
| HQ site | General DSS information, DSS Facts and Figures, DSS reports and publications, speeches, press releases, the Decision Makers Guide, statistical information from ASD |
| ITSA site | ITSA publications, ITSA fact sheets and the history of ITSA |
| WPA site | Background to the scheme, War Pension Welfare Service, types of claim, how to make a claim, supplementary allowances, war widows entitlement, treatment and allowance, your rights to appeal and contacting WPA |
30 Mar 2000 : Column: 273W
Appeals Service Agency
Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when the Appeals Service Agency will be introduced; and if he will make a statement. [117573]
Angela Eagle: The Appeals Service agency will be established with effect from Monday 3 April 2000. This new executive agency will be responsible for administration of appeals, and its Chief Executive will be accountable to Parliament for performance. Appeal tribunals will remain independent of the Department with the President, who remains head of the tribunal Non Departmental Public Body, and panel members being appointed by the Lord Chancellor. The new structure will bring greater accountability, but will also retain and support the independence and impartiality of tribunals.
In the past year, following the introduction of the new decision making and appeals arrangements, the Appeals Service under its Chief Executive designate has achieved both substantial reductions in the backlog of older cases and reduced waiting times for appeals to be heard. Full agency status, and the fact that the Chief Executive will be accountable to Parliament for the agency's performance for the first time, will provide the scope to consolidate these gains and wherever possible improve upon them over the coming year.
A Framework Document for the agency will set out its aims and objectives, together with lines of accountability and details of planning, reporting, personnel and finance arrangements. A Service First statement will set out the standards of service appellants can expect from the agency. A Business Plan has also been published, together with Secretary of State targets for the forthcoming year. Copies of these documents are being placed in the Library.
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Mrs. Anne Campbell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what performance targets he has set his Department's agencies for 2000-01; and if he will make a statement. [117574]
Mr. Darling:
The targets I have set the Child Support Agency (CSA), War Pensions Agency (WPA) and The Appeals Service (TAS) for 2000-01 are as given. The targets reflect our determination to reform the welfare state and to modernise the Social Security system to encourage work for those who can and provide security for those who cannot. They underpin the Departmental Aim and Objectives set out in our Public Service Agreement.
Further information on CSA, WPA and TAS plans for 2000-01 is contained in their individual business plans, which have been published today. Copies have been placed in the Library.
The targets I have set for the Benefits Agency and publication of its Business Plan will be announced in due course.
Targets for 2000-01 are:
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CSA Secretary of State Targets 2000-2001
Outstanding Work
The Agency will reduce its outstanding work to a prescribed level in all key business processes by 31 March 2001. The reduction in outstanding work to be achieved is based on a prescribed level of work equivalent to (x) weeks of intake and is different for each business process:
Pre Maintenance Assessment (18 weeks)
Revisions, Supercessions and Case Checks (6.2 weeks)
Account Advice (4 weeks)
Interim Maintenance Assessment (49 weeks)
Account Maintenance (1.4 weeks)
Debt Management (12 weeks)
Enforcement (30 weeks)
Case Compliance
To collect child maintenance and arrears from 71 per cent. of non resident parents with maintenance liability due to be paid through the Agency's collection service.
Cash Compliance
To collect 68 per cent. of child maintenance and arrears due for payment through the Agency's collection service.
Accuracy
The cash value of all assessments checked in the year to be correct to the nearest penny in at least 78 per cent. of cases.
Complaints
To reduce the number of complaints received compared with current caseload to less than 0.15 per cent.
Customer Service Standards
The Agency will demonstrate improvement across the range of the Customer Service Standards.
Secretary of State Milestone Targets
The Change Agenda--Child Support Reform
(a) establish Process Learning Centres by 30 April 2000
(b) complete the introduction of customer account statements for clients by 30 June 2000
(c) establish a Model Office by 31 December 2000
(d) commence data cleansing by 31 January 2001
Debt Reduction
To reduce the outstanding level of debt owing from full maintenance assessments at 31 March 2000 by 25 per cent. by 31 March 2001.
Staffing
(a) by March 2001, work with others in the Department to develop, pilot and evaluate new ways of measuring staff perception of the organisation to improve satisfaction and motivation; and
(b) contribute to the reduction in public sector sickness by reducing absences by 10 per cent. from 1998 Public Service Agreement baseline levels by 31 December 2000.
Investors in People
Individual Business Units will maintain Investors in People accreditation during 2000-01 and the Agency will achieve Investors in People accreditation by 31 March 2001.
Fraud/Security Measures
To develop and implement shadow measures for fraud/security by 1 July 2000; and for these measures to be reported on for the remainder of the year to inform the development of targets for 2001-02.
Customer Service Standards:
Payments
98 per cent. of payments made to the Parent with Care (or their bank or building society) to be made within 10 working days of receipt from the Non Resident Parent.
Customer Account Statements
When requested, we aim to issue the majority of customer account statements within 40 working days.
Office Interview
98 per cent. of clients to be seen within 10 minutes of the time of a pre-booked office appointment.
Client Helplines and the National Enquiry Line
80 per cent. of telephone calls to Client Helplines and the National Enquiry Line to be answered first time.
Correspondence
65 per cent. of letters to be answered within 10 working days of receipt.
Customer Satisfaction
95 per cent. of customers surveyed on quality call backs (following contact with the National Enquiry Line/Client Helplines and Face-to-Face) to be at least satisfied with the service received.
Complaints
To resolve the majority of customer complaints within 20 working days of receipt.
The Appeals Service Agency Targets 2000-01
Active Customer Focused Service Delivery
1. By March 2001, the average waiting time for an appeal to be heard will be no more than 14 weeks from time of receipt within the Appeals Service.
2. By March 2001, no more than 10 per cent. of cases will have been outstanding for more than 26 weeks.
3. To publish a Service First Statement, put in place arrangements to collect information on performance against the new measures, and meet the published standards.
4. To put in place monitoring systems to allow a Secretary of State target for customer satisfaction to be set in April 2001.
5. To reduce instances of avoidable adjournments by 25 per cent.
Investing in People
6. To lead and manage people effectively through specified measures and contribute to the reduction in public sector sickness absence levels by reducing absences by 10 per cent. from 1998 Public Service Agreement baseline levels by 31 December 2000.
7. By 31 March 2001, work with others in the Department to develop, pilot and evaluate new ways of measuring staff perception of the organisation to improve satisfaction and motivation.
War Pensions Agency Targets 2000-01
Putting Service First
1. To deliver a quality service to war pensioners and war widows by achieving the standards published in the War Pensions Agency's Service First Charter.
Working in Partnership
2. By 31 March 2001, to implement those recommendations of the 1999 War Pensions Agency Prior Options Review which relate to the objectives of the War Pensioners' Welfare Service and the partnership opportunities associated with the management of the Ilford Park Polish Home to the standards and timetable agreed with the Department.
Modernisation and Managing Change
3. To work with the Lord Chancellor's Department, Ministry of Defence and the voluntary sector/ex-service organisations to implement the recommendations of the War Pensions Agency's 1999 Decision Making and Appeals Study to the standards and timetable agreed with the Department.
Valuing our People
4. To lead and manage people effectively through specified measures and contribute to the reduction in public sickness absence levels by reducing absences by 17 per cent. from 1998 Public Service Agreement baseline levels by 31 December 2000.
Efficiency
5. To generate efficiencies during 2000-01 to absorb the effect of pay and price pressures; and introduce additional cost saving measures that will enable the War Pensions Agency to operate within its running cost allocation.