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IT Projects
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the information technology projects being undertaken by his Department and agencies responsible to his Department, including (a) the start date, (b) the planned completion date, (c) the current expected completion date, (d) the planned cost and (e) the current estimated cost; and if he will make a statement. [4403]
Mr. McCartney [holding answer 16 July 2001]: A major programme of change is currently under way in the Department to modernise the way it delivers its services and to support the implementation of important new policy initiatives such as the reform of Child Support and the introduction of new tax credits. This programme requires extensive IT change affecting all areas of the Department.
A number of the projects to deliver this change programme are already under way and will continue into the next year. Plans for others, including the implementation of Pension Credit from 2003 and the replacement of the
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Department's outdated computer systems, are currently being developed. Finalised completion dates and costs for these are therefore still under development.
Modernisation projects are brigaded under the headings given in the table in order to facilitate the management of the Department's modernisation programme. The overall costs of the projects to support Working Age, Pensions, Child Support and other key welfare reforms are shown but it is not yet possible to show the IT cost component because contracts have not yet been let for many of the IT projects. Because of the number of projects involved under each of the headings, the dates given can only be a broad indication of the earliest project start date, and the latest planned and expected end dates. The dates given are overall project targets, and thus embrace the IT elements of the project.
| Programme | Expected completion date | Planned cost (£ million) | Current estimated coast (£ million) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working Age | March 2003 | 289 | 726 |
| Pensions | December 2004 | 57 | 432 |
| Children | April 2003 | 914 | 864 |
| Corporate | March 2005 | 856 | 1,539 |
Notes:
1. The increase in planned and estimated cost under Working Age project work from the information provided previously in response to PC 641/2001 is due to the Department's responsibility for projects which were previously the Department for Education and Employment. An additional factor in the increased costs is the number of additional projects which have come on stream since February, as well as revised estimates for Child Support reform.
2. The costs shown have the following characteristics: they do not include any increase for pay and prices over the period; they include IT and non-IT cost components relating to each IT project; they do not include on-going core costs which will be incurred once the projects 'go live'. Additionally, the figures are high level estimates which are consequently subject to change.
Child Support Agency
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints in relation to Child Support Agency cases were received in (a) 1997–98, (b) 1998–99, (c) 1999–2000 and (d) 2000–01 by (i) the Child Support Agency, (ii) the Child Support Agency independent case examiner and (iii) the Parliamentary Ombudsman. [4162]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 16 July 2001]: The number of complaints that the agency has received has decreased in comparison with an increase in the agency's caseload. Also, while the number of complaints referred to the independent case examiner (ICE) and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (PCA) has increased, this is also against an increase in the caseload of the agency.
The Child Support Agency only started to count how many complaints it received from 1999–2000. Prior to this, the agency only counted how many complaints were being cleared.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 1,030,100 |
| 2000 | 1,048,920 |
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| Number | |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 21,015 |
| 2000–01 | 19,634 |
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 1,087 |
| 1998–99 | 1,536 |
| 1999–2000 | 1,226 |
| 2000–01 | 1,488 |
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 67 |
| 1998–99 | 51 |
| 1999–2000 | 102 |
| 2000–01 | 76 |
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the rate was of non-compliance in (a) 1997–98, (b) 1998–99, (c) 1999–2000 and (d) 2000–01 with payment of maintenance assessments by the CSA; what the backlog of cases is at the CSA; how many cases have been outstanding for one year or more; what the level of outstanding debt is in the CSA and what percentage of that debt is considered unrecoverable; and what assessment he has made of the level of accuracy in maintenance assessments. [4163]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 16 July 2001]: Compliance has improved; we have increased the number of fully compliant cases by 16.03 per cent. in 2000–01.
| Year | Percentages |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 31.4 |
| 1998–99 | 30.8 |
| 1999–2000 | 30.1 |
| 2000–01 | 28.7 |
There are 186,323 cases awaiting initial assessment and of these 47,209 are over 52 weeks old.
As of March 2001, the level of outstanding debt was £527,802,484. From this figure the percentage of debt that would possibly be uncollectable is 39.5 per cent.
The accuracy of the most recent action taken on cases was 78.5 per cent.
Mr. Denis Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many child support claimants have had to wait more than six months from the date their claim was submitted before their first payment is received in the last three years; [6296]
- (2) what average period of time elapses between the Child Support Agency receiving a claim and the claimant receiving their first payment. [6297]
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Malcolm Wicks: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to my hon. Friend.
Letter from Mr. Doug Smith to Mr. Denis Murphy, dated 20 July 2001:
- I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions about the Child Support Agency.
- You have asked how many child support claimants have had to wait more than six months from the date their claim was submitted before their first payment is received in the last three years. Also what average period of time elapses between the Child Support Agency receiving a claim and the claimant receiving their first payment.
- Your questions cannot be answered in the precise format you require as this information is not gathered in the way you have requested.
- In 1998–99 our target was to clear 65 per cent. of new maintenance assessments within 22 weeks and we achieved a target of 62 per cent.
- In 1999–2000 our target was changed to clear 65 per cent. of new maintenance assessments within 20 weeks, we achieved 51 per cent. clearance.
- This target was discontinued in 2000–01 and we are now aiming to reduce our outstanding work across all key areas.
- We are striving to improve performance in key areas and have introduced more robust measures to support this process for the coming year.
- We do not measure the average time between receipt of an application for maintenance and the client receiving their first payment.
- The Department produces a CSA Quarterly Summary of Statistics which is available in the House of Commons Library and you may find the information it contains of further interest.
Private Finance Initiative
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) PFI and (b) PPP contracts have been agreed by his Department over the last five years; how many have been satisfactorily completed; and in how many has compensation been (i) paid and (ii) claimed for performance failure. [4598]
Mr. McCartney: The information is as follows:
- (a) The Department for Work and Pensions has awarded eight PFI contracts over the last five years. Of these five were awarded by the Department of Social Security (DSS) and three by the Employment Service (ES) as an Executive Agency of Department for Education and Employment. Details are:
- 1. PRIME (Private Sector Resource Initiative for the Management of the Estate). A 20-year PFI partnership deal competitively awarded by DSS to Trillium on 1 April 1998. Trillium were recently acquired by Land Securities, the UK's largest property company, and are now called Land Securities Trillium.
- 2. A series of contracts awarded by DSS under the ACCORD (Access to Corporate Data) framework. The DSS established the ACCORD framework to secure the full range of IS/IT systems needed to underpin the Department's modernisation strategy, and Government's ambitions for Welfare Reform. Overarching contracts were awarded to three major consortia
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- in 1999, Affinity, lead by EDS, Arcway, lead by BT, and 1Accord, lead by ICL. Within this framework three PFI contracts were awarded for IS/IT services:
- (i) Strategic Outsourcing—a 10 year contract awarded to Affinity on 8 August 2000;
- (ii) to underpin Child Support Reforms—a 10 year contract awarded to Affinity 8 August 2000; and
- (iii) to deliver new Wide Area Network (WAN) services—a five year contract awarded to Arcway in November 2000.
- Other contracts will be agreed with service providers over the life of the ACCORD framework.
- 3. The Benefit Payment Card Project formed part of the BA/POCL Horizon Automation Project, which was a PFI project to automate post offices and benefit payments. The Benefit Payment Card Project, introduced in October 1996, was cancelled in May 1999.
- 4. The Employment Service (ES) has entered into two IT related and one other PFI deal over the last five years:
- (i) The Escom contract with Siemens Business Services (SBS) began in February 1998 and is due for completion February 2003.
- (ii) ES went into Partnership with Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in August 1998 for provision of IT and Telephony services. This contract is ongoing until July 2008.
- (iii) In February 1999 ES awarded Rebus Human Resources Services and Norwich Systems Accounting a 10 year partnership for the delivery of ES' Human Resources Services.
- (b) The Department has two PPP agreements:
- 1. A Lead Service Provider agreement made by DSS with Affinity in September 2000 under the ACCORD framework; and
- 2. a Network and Office Service Provider agreement made by DSS with Arcway in November 2000, also under ACCORD.
All the above, apart from the cancelled benefit payment card, are long-term service agreements and as such none has yet been completed.
The Department has not claimed compensation under any PFI/PPP contract to date.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how (1) many PFI transactions have been overseen by his Department and its predecessors in each of the last 10 years; what his estimate is of the cost savings made in each of these transactions in comparison with the public sector alternative; what are the outstanding payments to be made in relation to these transactions for each of the next 15 years; and if he will make a statement; [5718]
- (2) if he will list the economic penalties imposed on private sector firms in each of the last five years for failures to deliver in relation to key performance indicators in projects involving the Private Finance Initiative; and if he will make a statement. [5719]
Mr. McCartney: I will write to the hon. Member.
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