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Child Support Agency
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what progress has been made by the Child Support Agency on reducing the outstanding level of debt owing from full maintenance assessments in line with its performance target. [159169]
Angela Eagle: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Mr. Doug Smith to Mr. Steve Webb, dated 27 April 2001:
- I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the Child Support Agency.
- The outstanding level of Full Maintenance Assessment debt at March 2000 was £578,750,801. At March 2001 debt was £396,527,557.
- Full Maintenance Assessment debt has been reduced by 31.5% in 00/01 against a target of 25%.
- The reduction (£182.2 million) exceeds the reduction in 99/00 (£103.6 million) by £78.6 million.
- The target for 2001/2002 is to reduce debt by a further 25%.
- I hope this is helpful.
Crime Fighting
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to achieve greater co-operation with police forces to assist in the fight against crime. [160067]
Mr. Rooker: Following consultation with the Home Office, the DSS and the Association of Chief Police Officers of England, Wales and Northern Ireland have signed a memorandum of understanding. A copy has been placed in the Library. The memorandum sets out the principles underpinning the disclosure of personal information by the DSS to individual police forces engaged in the apprehension or prosecution of offenders. A similar memorandum will be signed shortly with the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland. Requests for information will now be considered in respect of all criminal offences rather than just the most serious ones.
The revised DSS policy on disclosure is that all personal information held in social security records will continue to be regarded as confidential. Information will not normally be disclosed to third parties without the consent of the person concerned. However, information may be disclosed without consent to assist in the prevention or detection of crime or to aid the apprehension or prosecution of offenders; to meet statutory requirements; to comply with a court order or to prevent duplication of payments from public funds.
30 Apr 2001 : Column: 518W
The new policy will come into effect today. Initial guidance to all DSS staff will be issued, followed by more detailed amendments to the protection of customer information guide, which is also in the House library, and is available to all DSS staff.
Departmental Advertising
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much his Department spent on advertising campaigns in 2000-01. [160113]
Mr. Rooker: The Department has spent £21,150,000 on advertising campaigns for the financial year 2000-01. The figure includes advertising, supporting literature and other material, telephone response lines, research and some direct mail for the following campaigns: Minimum Income Guarantee; pensions education; inherited SERPS; Winter Fuel Payments; Bereavement Benefits; anti-fraud; and New Deal for Lone Parents. This is a very small amount (around 0.02 per cent.) of the amount paid out in benefits. As not all invoices have yet been cleared the final confirmed figure may vary, but the variation is expected to be minimal.
The figures given in recent parliamentary answers regarding advertising expenditure may vary, depending on whether advertising costs or advertising campaign costs have been requested. Inevitably the inclusion of helpline, literature, and other related costs will result in higher top-line figures than advertising costs alone. For example, the spend on advertising media and production alone for 2000-01 was £18,429,000.
I have become aware of an error in a recent answer on advertising expenditure to the hon. Member for Havant (Mr. Willetts) on 7 March 2001, Official Report, column 233W. The correct information is as follows. I have written separately to the hon. Member about this matter, and placed a copy of the letter in the Library.
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Year | Cost |
| 1997-98 | 1,430,698 |
| 1998-99 | 4,671,862 |
| 1999-2000 | 2,788,062 |
| 2000-01 | 18,429,000 |
| Average Yearly Cost | 6,829,905 |
HOME DEPARTMENT
Fire Cover
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the standards of fire cover were in percentage terms for the year April 1999 to March 2000 for each fire service in Wales and England. [159766]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Home Office, the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) and the Audit Commission have agreed three Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI) to measure how well brigades are meeting the standards of fire cover. These are shown in tables 1-3.
30 Apr 2001 : Column: 519W
| Total incidents | Successes | Percentage of successes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| County Durham and Darlington | 11,814 | 11,814 | 100.0 |
| Derbyshire | 10,161 | 10,161 | 100.0 |
| Hereford and Worcester | 6,172 | 6,172 | 100.0 |
| Mid and West Wales | 6,200 | 6,200 | 100.0 |
| Northumberland | 3,528 | 3,528 | 100.0 |
| Oxfordshire | 7,024 | 7,024 | 100.0 |
| Royal Berkshire | 1,147 | 1,147 | 100.0 |
| Shropshire | 2,624 | 2,624 | 100.0 |
| Somerset | 3,862 | 3,862 | 100.0 |
| Warwickshire | 4,056 | 4,056 | 100.0 |
| West Sussex | 11,066 | 11,066 | 100.0 |
| West Yorkshire | 17,866 | 17,866 | 100.0 |
| South Wales | 6,073 | 6,069 | 99.9 |
| Cambridgeshire | 6,973 | 6,963 | 99.9 |
| West Midlands | 16,875 | 16,849 | 99.8 |
| Lincolnshire | 2,936 | 2,931 | 99.8 |
| Norfolk | 5,200 | 5,186 | 99.7 |
| Humberside | 7,206 | 7,186 | 99.7 |
| Buckinghamshire | 4,777 | 4,749 | 99.4 |
| Wiltshire | 5,606 | 5,569 | 99.3 |
| Dorset | 4,360 | 4,331 | 99.3 |
| Merseyside | 14,370 | 14,265 | 99.3 |
| Devon | 6,245 | 6,195 | 99.2 |
| Essex | 7,068 | 7,009 | 99.2 |
| Staffordshire | 8,869 | 8,787 | 99.1 |
| East Sussex | 8,044 | 7,956 | 98.9 |
| Leicestershire | 1,345 | 1,327 | 98.7 |
| Cheshire | 7,501 | 7,391 | 98.5 |
| Avon | 9,282 | 9,143 | 98.5 |
| Isle of Wight | 884 | 869 | 98.3 |
| South Yorkshire | 5,010 | 4,898 | 97.8 |
| Gloucestershire | 4,112 | 4,006 | 97.4 |
| Surrey | 9,773 | 9,510 | 97.3 |
| Bedfordshire and Luton | 2,530 | 2,452 | 96.9 |
| London | 52,784 | 51,098 | 96.8 |
| Northamptonshire | 7,789 | 7,455 | 95.7 |
| Cleveland | 2,418 | 2,301 | 95.2 |
| Kent | 10,722 | 10,154 | 94.7 |
| Cornwall | 2,764 | 2,589 | 93.7 |
| Cumbria | (19)-- | (19)-- | (19)-- |
| Greater Manchester | (19)-- | (19)-- | (19)-- |
| Hampshire | (19)-- | (19)-- | (19)-- |
| Hertfordshire | (19)-- | (19)-- | (19)-- |
| Lancashire | (19)-- | (19)-- | (19)-- |
| North Wales | (19)-- | (19)-- | (19)-- |
| North Yorkshire | (19)-- | (19)-- | (19)-- |
| Nottinghamshire | (19)-- | (19)-- | (19)-- |
| Suffolk | (19)-- | (19)-- | (19)-- |
| Tyne and Wear | (19)-- | (19)-- | (19)-- |
| Total | 307,036 | 302,758 | 98.6 |
30 Apr 2001 : Column: 520W
(19) Not available
30 Apr 2001 : Column: 522W
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the standards of fire cover were in percentage terms in Merseyside in (a) January 1998 to January 1999 and (b) January 1999 to January 2000. [159765]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Home Office, the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and the Audit Commission have agreed three Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI) to measure how well brigades are meeting the standards of fire cover. However the records held centrally are catalogued by fiscal year and cannot be converted to a calendar year basis. The records for Merseyside are shown in the table for fiscal years 1998-99 and 1999-2000.
30 Apr 2001 : Column: 521W
| Total incidents | Successes | Percentage of successes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BVPI | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 |
| Appliances mobilised | 14,073 | 14,370 | 14,056 | 14,265 | 99.9 | 99.3 |
| Number of riders | 14,073 | 14,370 | 14,064 | 14,287 | 99.9 | 99.4 |
| Attendance times | 14,073 | 14,370 | 13,321 | 13,596 | 94.7 | 94.6 |
30 Apr 2001 : Column: 521W
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