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WORK AND PENSIONS

Child Support Agency

Mr. Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many families received child maintenance payments in the Lanark and Hamilton, East constituency in (a) 2002–03, (b) 2003–04 and (c) 2004–05; and if he will make a statement. [10067]

Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Stephen Geraghty to Mr. Jimmy Hood, dated 24 November 2005:

In July you asked a Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. I am extremely sorry for the delay in providing this reply.

You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many families benefited from child maintenance payments in the Lanark and Hamilton East constituency in 2002–03, 2003–04 and 2004–05.

I regret that the information requested cannot be reliably broken down to the level of your constituency.

My apologies again for the delay in writing to you.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the policy is of the Child Support Agency in relation to the conditions which must be satisfied before a deduction of earnings order is initiated; and if he will make a statement. [28384]

Mr. Plaskitt: When an employed non-resident parent fails to comply and make regular payments, the Child Support Agency may send a deduction from earnings order (DEO) to their employer.
 
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Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the use of deduction of earnings orders by the Child Support Agency on employers. [30003]

Margaret Hodge: Deduction from earnings orders (DEOs) are an effective method of obtaining maintenance. In September 2005, 19 per cent. of cases had a DEO in place.

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many telephone calls to the Child Support Agency from people in Scotland (a) were received, (b) received an engaged tone and (c) were disconnected during the interactive voice response process for the period April 2002 to September 2005 for (i) all calls and (ii) calls relating to cases being progressed on the new computer system; [31093]

(2) how many calls to the Child Support Agency from people in Scotland were abandoned by (a) agency staff and (b) clients in each month since 2003. [31094]

Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is not available.

Mr. Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what consideration he has given to outsourcing the functions of the Child Support Agency. [31413]

Mr. Plaskitt: The Child Support Agency's chief executive, Stephen Geraghty, is currently undertaking a root and branch review of the agency. He will report to Ministers and we will make announcements shortly.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on progress by the Child Support Agency in dealing with its case load backlog. [19954]

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. David Laws, dated 24 November 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 by the Child Support Agency in dealing with its caseload backlog.

Between January and September 2005, the volume of uncleared applications not cleared across both schemes fell from 362,000 to 333,000, a reduction of 8%.

Uncleared potential new scheme applications rose from 259,000 in January 2005 to 266,000 in April 2005 before falling to 261,000 in September 2005. Of all potential new scheme applications received, 35% were still awaiting clearance in September 2005, down from 46% in January.

Work will continue within the Agency to explore ways to reduce the amount of outstanding work in progress.

I hope you find this response useful.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the Child Support Agency's caseload has been for each quarter of each year from 1997 to the third quarter of 2005; and if he will make a statement. [21583]

 
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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. David Laws, dated 24 November 2005:

You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the Child Support Agency's caseload has been for each quarter of each year from 1997 to the third quarter of 2005.

The Child Support Agency caseload figures are detailed in the table below (Quarterly April 1997 to date):

	Old scheme	New scheme	Total
June 1997	799,000	—	799,000
September 1997	821,000	—	821,000
December 1997	834,000	—	834,000
March 1998	893,000	—	893,000
June 1998	878,000	—	878,000
September 1998	923,000	—	923,000
December 1998	917,000	—	917,000
March 1999	947,000	—	947,000
June 1999	1,290,000	—	1,290,000
September 1999	1,319,000	—	1,319,000
December 1999	1,320,000	—	1,320,000
March 2000	1,323,000	—	1,323,000
June 2000	1,339,000	—	1,339,000
September 2000	1,338,000	—	1,338,000
December 2000	1,339,000	—	1,339,000
March 2001	1,345,000	—	1,345,000
June 2001	1,350,000	—	1,350,000
September 2001	1,367,000	—	1,367,000
December 2001	1,361,000	—	1,361,000
March 2002	1,353,000	—	1,353,000
June 2002	1,354,000	—	1,354,000
September 2002	1,349,000	—	1,349,000
December 2002	1,349,000	—	1,349,000
March 2003	1,230,000	—	1,230,000
June 2003	—	—	—
September 2003	—	—	—
December 2003	—	—	—
March 2004	—	—	—
June 2004	—	—	—
September 2004	—	—	—
December 2004	—	—	—
March 2005	965,000	452,000	1,417,000
June 2005	951,000	481,000	1,432,000
September 2005	938,000	511,000	1,449,000

Notes:
1.Caseload is defined as the number of cases that are open" and at any stage in the process.
2.There is currently no robust management information relating to new scheme cases and old scheme cases operating on the new computer system for the years 2003 and 2004.
3.There are currently 15,000 cases being administered clerically (September 2005). It is not possible to say if these cases are included in the above figures.
4.Numbers are rounded to the nearest 1,000.

I hope you find this helpful.

Disability Living Allowance

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many recipients there are of (a) the higher rate of the mobility component, (b) the medium rate of the care component and (c) the higher rate of the care component of disability living allowance, broken down by region; [31091]
 
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(2) what estimate he has made of the number of people who qualify for but do not receive (a) the higher rate of the mobility component, (b) the medium rate of the care component and (c) the higher rate of the care component of disability living allowance, broken down by region. [31092]

Mrs. McGuire: The requested information about the numbers of people receiving the higher rate of the mobility component the middle rate of the care component and the highest rate of the care component of disability living allowance is in the following table. Currently it is not possible to estimate take-up rates for the allowance. Following a recommendation in Meeting DWP's long-term information needs on disability: a feasibility report", (DWP Research report number 267, a copy of which is available in the Library) the Department is commissioning research to test two possible approaches to establish whether it is possible to estimate take-up rates. The results of this research will be available in 2007.
Disability living allowance: numbers of recipients of (a) the higher rate mobility component; (b) the highest rate care component; and (c) the middle rate care component in Great Britain at 31 May 2005 by Government office region

Government office region	Higher rate mobility component	Highest rate care component	Middle rate care component
North East	102.2	34.1	44.8
North West	273.0	95.4	135.6
Yorkshire and the Humber	168.0	57.9	77.6
East Midlands	118.1	44.2	60.9
West Midlands	158.2	59.8	80.9
East of England	106.6	46.6	69.9
London	391.1	67.9	98.1
South East	132.3	59.8	91.7
South West	108.5	41.1	70.2
Wales	150.3	53.2	58.5
Scotland	183.9	72.1	100.2
Unknown	1.6	0.5	0.8
Total	1,641.9	632.7	889.2

Notes:
1.Figures are in thousands, rounded to the nearest hundred, and exclude cases where payment of the allowance is suspended; for example, because the recipient has been a NHS hospital in-patient for more than four weeks. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
2.Postcodes are used to allocate recipients to the relevant Government office region. The figures shown against Unknown" are those for cases where the postcode is incomplete.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study.

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