| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
19 Jul 2005 : Column 1634W—continued
Benefits Payment
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer given on 20 June 2005, Official Report, column 707W, on Benefits/Pensions (Payments Methods), if he will place Post Office Ltd.'s 'Operation Focus' publication in the Library. [9609]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Department for Work and Pensions has no involvement in the 'Operational Focus'. The publication is owned by Post Office Ltd.
Carers
Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the national insurance contributions towards a basic state pension of a person who cares for an elderly or a sick relative for less than 35 hours per week but because of their caring responsibilities cannot work. [7212]
Mr. Plaskitt: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave her on 27 June 2005, Official Report, columns 1256–57W.
Child Support Agency
Mr. Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much funding has been allocated to the child maintenance scheme for 2005 in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland; and if he will make a statement. [10066]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Child Support Agency has funding of £323 million for 2005–06 to undertake the administration of its UK operations. The funding is allocated to the Agency's two territories and within that to the six child support centres, headquarters and support locations. Each child support centre covers a wide geographical area and none is specific to Scotland.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) parents with care, (b) non-resident parents and (c) children included in Child Support Agency maintenance assessments there are in each parliamentary constituency; what proportion of each group are new scheme cases, broken down by parliamentary constituency; and what proportion of parents with care receive income support or jobseeker's allowance, broken down by parliamentary constituency. [1988]
19 Jul 2005 : Column 1635W
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Mr. Stephen Geraghty. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty to Mr. David Laws, dated 18 July 2005:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) parents with care (b) non-resident parents and (c) children included in Child Support Agency maintenance assessments there are in each parliamentary constituency; what proportion of each group are new scheme cases broken down by parliamentary constituency; and what proportion of parents with care receive income support or jobseeker's allowance broken down by parliamentary constituency.
At May 2005 there were around 262,500 old scheme cases held on the new computer system. I am not currently able to provide the information you are seeking in relation to these cases because of system limitations. However, I expect to be in a position to do so by this Autumn. In addition, at May 2005, there were a further 12,000 new scheme cases being progressed clerically for which I am unable to break down the information as requested.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the members of the Child Support Agency's management board since 2001; when each became a member; and what the reasons for each leaving the board were. [1993]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Stephen Geraghty. He will write to the hon. Member with the requested information.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty to Mr. David Laws, dated 19 July 2005:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will list the members of the Child Support Agency's management board since 2001; when each became a member; and what the reasons for each leaving the board were.
I have listed below the executive and non-executive members of the CSA management board since 2001 in order of appointment, providing reasons for leaving where appropriate.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff are employed in each Child Support Agency business unit; how many are assigned to (a) front end functions, (b) enforcement and (c) complaints; and what proportion of Agency staff each represents. [1995]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Stephen Geraghty. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mike Isaac to Mr. David Laws, dated 19 July 2005:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. As he is currently on leave I am replying on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff are employed in each Child Support Agency business unit; how many are assigned to (a) front end functions (b) enforcement and (c) complaints; and what proportion of Agency staff each represents.
As at April 05 the Agency has 9,795 staff (whole time equivalent employees). The information you requested is in the tables. Note these figures do not include staff employed in Northern Ireland.
Source:
April 05 Capacity Report and Dataview Disc
| Number of staff | Proportion (percentage) | |
|---|---|---|
| Frontline functions | 7,322 | 75 |
| Enforcement | 271 | 3 |
| Complaints | 678 | 7 |
Source:
April 2005 Capacity Report
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) if he will place in the Library a copy of the Child Support Agency's aftercare policy; [6194]
(2) if he will place a copy of the Child Support Agency's aftercare policy statement in the Library. [8743]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Stephen Geraghty. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mike Isaac to Mr. David Laws, dated 19 July 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions on whether a copy of the Child Support Agency's aftercare policy will be placed in the Library. As he is currently on leave I am responding on his behalf.
There is a standard aftercare policy currently in operation for Independent Case Examiner complaints. The process is explained to the customer in the report they receive from the Independent Case Examiner and reads as follows:
'The [Child Support] Centre has agreed to monitor your case as part of the Agency's aftercare process. This means that within six weeks of the date of this report, the Centre will conduct a check of the case to ensure that there are no new or outstanding issues. If appropriate, you may be contacted by the Agency to give you up to date information about your case and to discuss any concerns you may have.'
We are currently looking at providing a consistent aftercare policy to cover all complaints made to the Agency, which will include Member of Parliament and ministerial correspondence complaints. I will make this policy available in the Library once it has been agreed and implemented.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what information the Child Support Agency's Sapphire database contains; and what Sapphire payments are. [9326]
Mr. Plaskitt:
The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Stephen Geraghty. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
19 Jul 2005 : Column 1638W
Letter from Mike Isaac to Mr. David Laws, dated 19 July 2005:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. As he is currently on leave I am responding on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information the Child Support Agency's Sapphire database contains; and what Sapphire payments are.
The Agency manages a clerical database which is a stand-alone IT system and is used to control cases that we can no longer progress on the mainframe CSCS or CS2 computer systems. This database was originally managed by a group of staff referred to as the Sapphire Team. We no longer use this term.
The database helps to maintain clerical payments, which are currently issued through two processing centres. The Client Funds Account team in Longbenton receive the payments. Two processing centres in Cumnock and Stockport ensure the money is paid out to the person with care or Secretary of State.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the purpose of the Child Support Agency's War Room. [9327]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Mr. Stephen Geraghty. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mike Isaac to Mr. David Laws, dated 19 July 2005:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. As he is currently on leave I am responding on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make a statement on the purpose of the Child Support Agency's War Room.
War Room" is an informal term used by many organisations to identify meetings held to discuss subjects of high importance and/or great complexity. This is also true for the Child Support Agency.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what action was taken following the recommendation by the Child Support Agency's internal audit to prevent staff manipulating their workflow to allow them to select cases which require minimum processing effort. [11853]
Mr. Plaskitt: The immediate response to the internal audit recommendation was to separate backlog work from new work, and deal with each stream separately. This solution is now giving way to an IT solution. The IT solution will restrict the ability to re-allocate work, so that only team leaders can do this.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the Child Support Agency's identified risks over the last four years; and what the failed (a) level and (b) nature of each was. [3865]
19 Jul 2005 : Column 1639W
Mr. Plaskitt: Disclosure of this information would be likely to prejudice the effective management of the identified risks and would be likely to inhibit the free and frank provision of advice in these areas.
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to reform the Child Support Agency; and if he will make a statement [9819]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 5 July 2005]: The problems surrounding the Child Support Agency are well known. We have recently appointed a new Chief Executive and as a priority have asked him to carry out a wide ranging review of the agency's operations and structures.
He will be reporting his findings to us in the next few months setting out his proposals to improve the agency's performance.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |