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21 Jul 2005 : Column 1995W—continued
Carer's Allowance
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what research his Department has undertaken to assess the reasons for the difference between the number of people claiming carer's allowance and the number of people who are entitled to claim. [5616]
Mrs. McGuire:
No research into this area has been possible because entitlement to carer's allowance depends upon a number of factors, one of which is that the disabled person being cared for must be in receipt of attendance allowance or the equivalent rates of the disability living allowance care component. Entitlement to those benefits can only be reliably established after a claim has been made and the care and mobility needs of the disabled person fully assessed. As there is no means of reliably calculating the number of people receiving them as a proportion of the overall eligible population,
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it is not possible to make a realistic estimate of the number of people who, if they claimed, might be entitled to carer's allowance.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people his Department estimate have an underlying entitlement to carer's allowance but are ineligible due to (a) overlapping benefit rules and (b) earnings above the limit. [5617]
Mrs. McGuire: As at 28 February 2005, some 265,000 people who were entitled to carer's allowance were not receiving it because of the operation of the overlapping benefit rules. Carers who earn over the earnings limit are not entitled to the allowance, and thus do not retain underlying entitlement.
Child Maintenance
Mr. Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the financial effects on the first family when the non-resident parent has a child born to his new partner under child maintenance arrangements; what effects this has on child maintenance payments; and if he will make a statement. [10065]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Department has not commissioned any research that specifically investigates the financial impact suffered by the first family when a non-resident parent has a child born to his new partner and any subsequent impacts upon child maintenance.
Research has been commissioned to examine factors affecting non-resident parent compliance with maintenance assessments, National Survey of Child Support Agency Clients", Nick Wikeley, CDS 2001, a copy of which is in the Library. This found that the partnering status of a non-resident parent is a factor. Non-resident parents who have re-partnered or remarried tend to be less likely to comply with maintenance assessments.
Child Support Agency
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the outstanding stock of Child Support Agency unpaid debts for each reporting period from 2002–03 to 2005–06; and if he will make a statement. [974]
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 21 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 his estimate is of the outstanding stock of Child Support Agency unpaid debts for each reporting period from 2002–03 to 2005 and if he will make a statement.
The Agency refers to debt as the amounts outstanding on full maintenance assessments and excludes amounts deemed as probably uncollectable. These amounts outstanding are reported in the notes to the Agency's Annual Report and Accounts and are subject to external audit by the National Audit Office. The accounts for 2004/05 will be available from the end of July 2005 and the requested information for previous years is shown in the table below.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 2002–03 | 664.0 |
| 2003–04 | 720.2 |
| 2004–05 | (7)— |
(7)Available by end of July
In order to reduce the amount of debt the Agency is tapping into what works well in public and private sectors to improve its working practices. The Agency is increasing resources on enforcement activity and there is an increasing trend in the application of sanctions.
In response to the Work and Pensions Select Committee recommendation the Agency is developing a strategy for reducing the debt. This debt strategy will form one part of the new Chief Executive's future performance improvement plans.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on progress in resolving the computer problems at the Child Support Agency; and if he will make a statement. [987]
Margaret Hodge: 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 21 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 make a statement on progress in resolving the computer problems at the Child Support Agency.
The Agency has acknowledged that there are problems with the IT system. Work to stabilise the system is on-going and this has already brought about improvements. The Agency is continuing to work with the computer supplier (EDS) to remedy the problems and IT releases were successfully implemented in December 2004 and May 2005 to resolve various system performance issues and build upon the improvements already made.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his latest estimate is of the backlog of uncleared Child Support Agency cases for (a) each quarter from March 2003 to June 2005 and (b) each month from April 2004 to June 2005; and if he will make a statement. [989]
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 21 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 his latest estimate is of the backlog of uncleared Child Support Agency cases for (a) each quarter from March 2003 to June 2005 and (b) each month from April 2004 to June 2005; and if he will make a statement.
In its response to the Work and Pensions Select Committee on the performance of the Child Support Agency, the Government agreed that the management information for the new scheme was not as robust or as comprehensive as it needed to be. It went on to state that the Agency was confident that by 1 November 2005 the management information would be improved and on a par with old scheme information.
Progress is being made to achieve improvements in the quality of new scheme information and, from January 2005, more robust management information is available in respect of the Agency's intake, clearances and work-on-hand position as recorded on the IT system. Consequently, I am currently only able to provide reliable new scheme information from this point forward.
| Month (2005) | New scheme |
|---|---|
| January | 259,000 |
| February | 265,000 |
| March | 266,000 |
| April | 267,000 |
| May | 265,000 |
| June | 263,000 |
Notes:
1.An application is counted as cleared" when a maintenance calculation has been carried out and a charging schedule set up, or it has been closed, or it has been established that it is not a valid application (because it is subject to a reduced benefit decision, is good cause, or is in actual fact a change of circumstance on an existing case).
2.Work in hand in this context is the totality of all cases yet to be cleared, as defined above.
3.Figures rounded to nearest 1,000.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases have been stuck in the new Child Support Agency computer system each month since it was introduced; what the average time taken until first payment for stuck cases is in each month; and in what proportion of stuck cases (a) assessments and (b) first payments have been made. [1994]
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 21 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, how many cases have been stuck in the new Child Support Agency computer system each month since it was introduced; what the average time taken until first payment for stuck cases is in each month; and in what proportion of stuck cases (a) assessments and (b) first payments have been made.
I am unable to provide a complete response to your question, as we do not collect information at the level of detail required to be able to provide robust and accurate figures under each of the specific headings requested. I can tell you that the number of cases we have currently identified which require technical intervention by EDS for them to be progressed is approximately 20,000. As of June 2005 the number of additional cases that now require such intervention each month is approximately 1,200. In the past 6–8
- months approximately 32,000 cases have had the required technical intervention work carried out by EDS and have now been made available again to be progressed by Child Support Agency staff.
The Agency has set up the Live Recovery Reprofiling project to investigate the underlying system faults that give rise to un-progressible cases. This project is currently drawing up the required plans and timetables to allow this work to be scheduled and managed in a controlled and efficient manner.
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will introduce a free phone inquiry telephone number for the Child Support Agency. [3961]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a mater for the chief executive, Mr. Stephen Geraghty. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mike Isaac to Tim Farron, dated 21 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 introduce a free phone enquiry telephone number for the Child Support Agency.
I thought it might be helpful if I explained a little about our telephone policy. We now place greater emphasis on collecting information and discussing and resolving issues through telephone contact with our customers. Advanced telephony arrangements introduced with the Child Support Reforms can route enquiries directly to specific front-line staff responsible for an individual case, who are able to access case details at the time of the call.
Our main telephone contact points can be reached by means of local-call rate numbers, which provide for equality of access to our services regardless of where someone might live. In addition all staff are advised that customers should be called back if they request it or if the member of staff thinks that the call may turn out to be lengthy.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many requests to increase staffing levels have been made to each Child Support Agency business unit director, broken down by area; how many requests were accepted; and for how many staff in each case. [6198]
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 21 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 requests to increase staffing levels have been made to each Child Support Agency business unit director broken down by area; how many requests were accepted; and for how many staff in each case.
I am afraid that the specific information you have asked for is not available. However, I thought it might be helpful if I explain that the Child Support Agency plan staffing on an annual basis, setting out workforce plans by business unit/territory. These
- workforce plans are underpinned by recruitment plans based on anticipated wastage of staff calculated by looking at historical leaver data. The plans are monitored monthly and reviewed on a quarterly basis to take account of any business changes.
As a result of the Departmental Spending Review 2004 the Agency headcount target for March 2006 was increased by 1,561 from 8,000 to 9,561 (Dataview counting methodology).
From April 2005 the Agency began counting staffing in line with the agreed Cabinet Office Mandate counting methodology. This excludes staff on maternity pay from the staff in post count and accounts for an approximate 1 per cent. reduction in staffing totals. As a result the March 2006 headcount target was adjusted accordingly to 9388.
From the beginning of the 2005/6 operational year the Child Support Agency moved from a business unit structure to a new territorial" structure. The table below outlines the target staffing distribution to reflect the increase of staffing and the new territorial structure.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on how many occasions access to the Child Support Agency's computer system by former members of staff has been identified. [8744]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty to Mr. Laws, dated 21 July 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on how many occasions access to the Child Support Agency's computer system by former members of staff has been identified.
The Child Support Agency and the Department as a whole has strict rules on who can access records that are held on its computer systems. Staff are only able to access systems that are necessary for them to carry out their duties.
I am pleased to tell you that there has been no cases recorded where former members of staff have accessed the Child Support Agency computer systems.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what records he keeps of call backs (a) promised and (b) made by Child Support Agency staff. [8754]
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.
21 Jul 2005 : Column 2001W
Letter from Mike Isaac to Mr. Laws, dated 21 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, what records he keeps of callbacks (a) promised and (b) made by Child Support Agency staff.
The Agency keeps clerical monthly statistics on callbacks generated. We are in the process of automating the process to improve the quality and accuracy of these records.
However I can tell you that all our staff receive customer service training and are instructed to call customers back when asked to do so or when they perceive that a call may be lengthy.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what systems have been established to monitor the quality of Child Support Agency staff responses to telephone calls. [9325]
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 Mike Isaac to Mr. Laws, dated 21 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 systems have been established to monitor the quality of Child Support Agency staff responses to telephone calls.
The Agency has in place a number of measures to monitor the quality of calls. National Helpline team leaders can either listen in to live" calls from a remote location or to tape recordings of closed calls. They score calls for quality and identify any training needs, which are then addressed. The tapes are also used in regular coaching sessions with staff.
The National Helpline conducts a Department for Work and Pensions approved quarterly customer survey. The resultant feedback from our customers is used to develop improvement plans. Regular surveys are also carried out to monitor the accuracy of the technical information given to customers.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) serious complaints and (b) complaints about Child Support Agency (CSA) payments have been received by CSA staff in each of the last five years; and how serious complaints are (i)identified and (ii) defined. [9328]
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 21 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, how many (a) serious complaints and (b) complaints about Child Support Agency payments have been received by Child Support Agency staff; and how serious complaints are identified and defined.
I have provided the number of complaints received in the Agency in the table below covering a 14 month period to May 2005. I cannot supply the number of complaints about payments as the information is not sufficiently categorised to provide that level of detail.
We consider that any complaint we receive to be a serious complaint", and we do not have a separate definition of serious". We operate a three-tier complaints process. A Stage 1 complaint is the first we receive from a client either in writing or over the telephone and is dealt with by a Complaints Resolution Team located within each of our Business Units. A Stage 2 complaint is one where the client complains to the Business Unit's Area Director following a response at Stage 1. Most complaints are settled at Stage 1 or 2 but if a client is unhappy with the Area Director's response they can write directly to the Chief Executive. This constitutes a Stage 3 complaint.
At each level of the complaints process clients are advised as to how they can escalate their complaint should they remain dissatisfied with the reply they receive.
Once the three-tiered process has been completed the client can contact the Independent Case Examiner [if they remain dissatisfied]. The Independent Case Examiner is external to the Agency and acts as an impartial adjudicator in respect of the complaints which are appropriate for her involvement.
In addition to this process, a client can complain directly to their Member of Parliament who can refer the complaint on their behalf to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration.
n/a=not available
(8)As at 31 March 2005.
(9)As at 31 May 2005.
Notes:
1.Member of Parliament to chief executive, Member of Parliament to business unit and treat official complaints are outside the 3-tier client complaints process.
2.Treat official complaints are those received by a Minister's private office but referred for initial consideration by an official of the agency.
3.Complaints received by the independent case examiner: These include complaints where the agency had not issued a response by or on behalf of the chief executive so the independent case examiner could not accept the complaint. The figure also includes complaints on legislation etc where the independent case examiner cannot accept the complaint.
4.Complaints accepted by the independent case examiner: These are the complaints where the complainant has received a response by or on behalf of the chief executive.
I am sorry if this answer is not all that you may have wished for but I hope it has proved useful to you.
Janet Anderson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many recipients of child support are in receipt of manual payments as a result of
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computer failure at the Child Support Agency; and in how many cases there is a consequent shortfall in the amount of child support they receive. [9370]
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 Janet Anderson, dated 21 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, how many recipients of child support are in receipt of manual payments as a result of computer failure at the Child Support Agency; and in how many cases there is a consequent shortfall in the amount of child support they receive.
We have around 980 customers who are regularly paid their maintenance manually. I am unable to give a breakdown between computer failure and other reasons for payments having to be made manually.
When a manual payment is made, any monies received from the non-resident parent and owed to the parent with care are paid in full.
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will expedite the transfer of the case of Mr. Ronald Ceasar (ref: PCU/145410/KH/MC) to the new system of Child Support Agency payments. [10837]
Mr. Plaskitt: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Bolton, South-East (Dr. Iddon), on 20 June 2005, Official Report, column 705W.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average cost per case is of a Child Support Agency case processed under the (a) new scheme on the new computer system, (b) new scheme on the old computer system, (c) new scheme with a clerical assessment, (d) old scheme on the old computer system and (e) old scheme on the new computer system. [13882]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mike Isaac to Mr. David Laws, dated 21 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 the average cost per case is of a Child Support Agency case processed under the (a) new scheme on the new computer system, (b) new scheme on the old computer system, (c) new scheme with a clerical assessment, (d) old scheme on the old computer system and (e) old scheme on the new computer system.
Information is not currently available in the format requested. We expect information on administration costs for the Child Support Agency to be available after the Departments new Resource Management System is introduced in the Child Support Agency in 2006. In the meantime, the Agency does publish interim
- unit cost information in accordance with Public Service Agreement (PSA 9) which is contained in the Annual Report and Accounts.
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