---

Child Support Agency

Mr. Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) individual cases the CSA has handled, (b) absent parents have refused to co-operate with the CSA and (c) deductions from earning orders have been issued in each year since 1997. [65531]

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 Doug Smith to Mr. Alan Campbell, dated 17 July 2002:

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply by me.
You ask how many (a) individual cases the Child Support Agency has handled (b) absent parents have refused to co-operate with the Child Support Agency and (c) deductions from earning orders have been issued in each year since 1997.
We don't hold all the information you seek. However the table below sets out:
(a) the number of new applications received each year
(b) the percentage of cases in which the non-resident parent complies with the requirement to pay maintenance
(c) the number of cases in which a deduction from earnings order is applied.

Year to 31st March	Applications	Compliance	Deduction from Earnings Orders applied
1998	402,220	19,064	Data not available
1999	374,455	2,456	123,084
2000	369,226	13,578	Data not available
2001	303,797	5,360	133,444
2002	365,414	5,686	115,003

I hope this is helpful.

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many existing cases need to be transferred to and how many new cases have been assessed under the new Child Support scheme. [69531]

Malcolm Wicks: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.

18 Jul 2002 : Column 517W

Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Anthony Steen, dated 17 July 2002:

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary Questions about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply by me.
You have asked the following questions:
"To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many existing cases need to be transferred to and how many new cases have been assessed under the new Child Support scheme".
No cases have yet been assessed under the new Child Support scheme. We can only begin to assess cases under the new scheme when Ministers have decided to implement the new arrangements. When they do so they will have to lay a Commencement Order before Parliament. They will only do that when they are confident about when our new computer system, that is currently being tested, will be operational.
Based on current forecasts of the predicted Agency caseload, it is estimated that approximately one million existing cases would require to be transferred to the new child support scheme.
I hope this is helpful.

Mr. Russell Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases have been referred by the CSA to their Special Payments Unit in each of the past five years, broken down by region; and of these, what percentage resulted in a compensatory payment being made. [66860]

Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 4 July 2002]: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the my hon. Friend.

Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Russell Brown, dated 17 July 2002:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply by me.
Your ask how many cases have been referred by the Child Support Agency to the special payments unit in each of the past five years broken down by region; and of these what percentage resulted in a compensatory payment being made.
We don't collect information in quite this format. The table below sets out, by reference to our business units, the number of cases each year in which the special payments team authorised payment.

	Year to 31 March
Business Unit	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Eastern	1,156	2,010	2,210	2,379	1,209
Wales & North West	580	781	998	1,005	599
Midlands	851	1,475	1,528	1,576	768
Scotland & North East	724	1,226	1,225	1,405	716
South East	575	848	1,019	1,292	732
South West	580	882	1,067	1,962	1,006
Total	4,466	7,222	8,047	9,619	5,030

These figures represent for each year the following percentage of cases referred to the special payments team for consideration for redress of a consolatory payment:

1998 61%

1999 87%

2000 82%

2001 83%

2002 80%

18 Jul 2002 : Column 518W

0870 Telephone Numbers

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his policy is on using 0870 telephone numbers for inquiries by the public to the Department and its agencies. [66200]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: Most existing services, and new services that are being set up, will generally be provided for the cost of a local call (0845 numbers) or, in some circumstances, free. Where different charges currently apply (e.g. 0870 numbers), services are expected to move to the local rate/free charging regime as opportunities arise to do so.

Pensions (Backdating)

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reason the maximum backdating allowed for the retirement pension is three months; and if he will make a statement. [66557]

Mr. McCartney: The absolute time limit of three months for claiming retirement pension was introduced in April 1997 as part of the rationalisation of time limits for all benefits undertaken at that time. Before this date there were a large number of different rules and time periods for the backdating of the claims for different benefits. It was a confusing picture and it was widely recognised that there was a need to simplify the rules. It was considered appropriate for people to have three months in which to make a claim for one of the contributory benefits. Retirement pension is one of those benefits.

Pension Schemes

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect of the reduction in the (a) number and (b) membership of final salary schemes on long-term pension savings. [70440]

Mr. McCartney: There has been a long-term decline in the number and membership of final salary pension schemes, for a combination of reasons.

The Government have announced that it will be taking a radical look at occupational and personal pension provision and coming forward with proposals in a Green Paper in the autumn.

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of (a) 20 to 30, (b) 30 to 40, (c) 40 to 50 and (d) 50 to 60-year-olds belong to (i) personal pension schemes and (ii) occupational pension schemes. [70439]

Mr. McCartney: Information on the percentage of people who are members of pension schemes is not available. The information in the table shows estimates of percentages of people for whom contributions are being made by themselves or by their employer to pension schemes.

18 Jul 2002 : Column 519W

Age	20–29	30–39	40–49	50–59
Percentage of adults contributing to a personal pension scheme	7	17	17	15
Percentage of adults contributing to an occupational pension scheme	23	38	41	33

Notes:

1. The figures relate to the percentage of all adults (defined as all those aged 16 and over, except 16 to 18-year-olds in full time non-advanced education) whether in employment, self employed or economically inactive.

2. Adults contributing to both types of scheme will be contained in both sets of figures.

3. The figures will not include those who have previous pension rights in a scheme but who are not currently contributing.

4. The estimates are based on sample counts that have been adjusted for non-response using multi-purpose grossing factors that control for region, council tax band and a number of demographic variables. Estimates are subject to sampling error and to variability in non-response.

Source:

Family Resources Survey 2000–01

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of (a) 20 to 30, (b) 30 to 40, (c) 40 to 50 and (d) 50 to 60-year-olds have opted out of SERPS in each of the last 10 years, broken down by (i) men and (ii) women. [70441]

Mr. McCartney: The information requested is not available. Information on the percentage of people contracted out of SERPS covering the period 1992–93 to 1996–97 is in the table.

Per cent.

	Age group
	20–29	30–39	40–49	50–59
1992–93
Total	75.0	83.6	72.7	53.6
Men	78.1	94.5	89.7	61.7
Women	71.7	70.0	53.6	43.5
1993–94
Total	72.4	85.3	73.0	53.2
Men	74.8	95.6	90.2	61.2
Women	69.9	72.5	54.2	43.5
1994–95
Total	67.7	86.3	72.9	53.1
Men	69.5	96.2	89.4	60.7
Women	65.8	74.3	54.9	44.3
1995–96
Total	63.8	88.5	75.0	54.9
Men	64.5	96.9	89.7	61.3
Women	63.1	78.3	59.1	47.5
1996–97
Total	59.5	90.8	77.6	57.3
Men	59.8	98.5	92.5	64.6
Women	59.1	81.6	61.6	49.0

Notes:

1. Figures are taken from the Lifetime Labour Market Database (LLMDB), extracted from the National Insurance Recording System (NIRS).

2. Figures are taken from a 1 per cent. sample so may be subject to sampling variation.

3. The number of individuals who have opted out of SERPS was calculated by determining how many individuals were members of contracted-out occupational schemes or Appropriate Personal Pension (APP) schemes at some point during each year.

4. The percentages were derived from the number of individuals in each age group, in each year who were Class 1 National Insurance Contribution Contributors, i.e. those individuals who were in employment and could thus opt out of SERPS.

18 Jul 2002 : Column 520W

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many occupational schemes are in operation in the UK; and how many employees have belonged to each scheme in each of the last 10 years. [70443]

Mr. McCartney: The information is not available in the form requested. The available information is set out as follows.

Number of occupational schemes registered as 'live' (to nearest 1,000)—103,000.

Notes:
1. 'Live' schemes include:
schemes which are open to new members;
'closed' schemes which new members can not join;
schemes which have 'frozen' where no new benefits are being accrued; and
schemes that are in the process of winding up.
2. Figure is as at 2 July 2002.
Source:
Pension Schemes Registry.

Number of employees for which contributions are currently being made to occupational pension schemes

	Number of employees (million)
1996–97	10.3
1997–98	10.4
1998–99	10.7
1999–2000	10.6
2000–01	10.7

Notes:

1. Between 1998–99 and 1999–2000 there was a change in methodology on the Family Resources Survey—the estimates for the years 1999–2000 and 2000–01 are not comparable to those for previous years.

2. Figures include both employees who are contributing and/or for whom contributions are being made by the employer.

3. The estimates are based on sample counts that have been adjusted for non-response using multi-purpose grossing factors that control for region, council tax band and a number of demographic variables. Estimates are subject to sampling error and to variability in non-response.

4. Estimates may differ from those provided in different surveys.

Source:

Family Resources Survey

---