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10 Jan 2006 : Column 603W—continued
Benefit Payments
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many women are receiving incapacity benefit payments; and what the figures were in each of the last four years. [39608]
Margaret Hodge:
The information is in the table.
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Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
2. 'Claimant' figures include all incapacity benefit (IB) and severe disability allowance (SDA), including IB credits only cases.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data.
Child Support
Mark Fisher: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people who are paying child support remain on the old computer programme. [23096]
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, dated 10 January 2006:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
I asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people who are paying child support remain on the old computer programme.
You can find this information in the CSA Quarterly Statistical Supplement published on the DWP website (www.dwp.gov.uk), a copy of which is also held in the House of Commons library.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the potential impact of fixing maintenance liabilities for periods longer than one week; and if he will make a statement. [37941]
Mr. Plaskitt: Because many clients of the Child Support Agency are in receipt of benefits which are assessed on a weekly basis, it is more practical to calculate liability for child support on a weekly basis.
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much information relating to Child Support Agency cases in Kent has been lost due to the new IT system. [28595]
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.
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what bonuses were paid to staff managing the EDS contract at the Child Support Agency in each of the last four years; and what bonuses related to performance were paid to these staff in each of the last four years. [30019]
Mr. Plaskitt:
The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, who will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
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Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 10 January 2006:
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 what bonuses were paid to staff managing the EDS contract at the Child Support Agency in each of the last four years; and what bonuses related to performance were paid to these staff in each of the last four years?
All staff in the Department of Work and Pensions qualify for performance-related pay. The performance-related pay arrangements operate on a sliding scale with over 90% of staff receiving a payment at the end of the performance year. In addition the Department operates a special bonus" scheme, which rewards staff for exceptional achievements outside the requirements of their key work objectives.
Set out in the table below are the special bonus payments relating to staff involved in managing the EDS Contract. These staff also perform other functions in addition to that role.
| Financial year | Amount of payment |
|---|---|
| 2003–04 | 1,600.00 |
| 2004–05 | 0 |
| 2005–06(53) | 500.00 |
| Total | 2,100.00 |
(53) To date.
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what percentage of the Child Support Agency cases waiting to be transferred from the old to the new scheme contain anomalies, inaccuracies or incomplete data; [30046]
(2) how many anomalies, inaccuracies and pieces of incomplete data are contained in the Child Support Agency records of the cases waiting to be transferred from the old to the new scheme; [30047]
(3) how long he expects the work needed to bring records of Child Support Agency cases up to a standard acceptable for transfer to the new scheme to take; and if he will make a statement; [30048]
(4) what proportion of the anomalies, inaccuracies and incomplete data contained in the Child Support Agency records of the cases waiting to be transferred from the old to the new scheme require human intervention; and if he will make a statement. [30049]
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, dated 10 January 2006:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
What percentage of the Child Support Agency cases waiting to be transferred from the old to the new scheme contain anomalies, inaccuracies or incomplete data. [30046]
How many anomalies inaccuracies and pieces of incomplete data are contained in the Child Support Agency records of the cases waiting to be transferred from the old to the new scheme. [30047]
How long he expects the work needed to bring records of Child Support Agency cases up to a standard acceptable for transfer to the new scheme to take; and if he will make a statement. [30048]
What proportion of the anomalies inaccuracies and incomplete data contained in the Child Support Agency records of the cases waiting to be transferred from the old to the new scheme require human intervention; and if he will make a statement. [30049]
Whilst the Agency does not have robust numbers for the type of cases specified, we do know that a substantial proportion of the old scheme caseload will have corrupted data that needs to be corrected before cases are moved to the new scheme.
Work is being undertaken to identify and resolve the problems caused by issues with the data on old scheme cases as they move to the new system and as relevant cases get transferred to the new scheme. I regret that this work has not yet produced definitive answers to the questions you have asked.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many non-resident parents were paying the flat rate of £5 child support per week in the latest period for which figures are available; and in how many cases these payments are being deducted from social security payments by the Child Support Agency; [30068]
(2) how many and what proportion of non-resident parents have a net income such that they pay child support maintenance (a) at the £5 flat rate and (b) on the taper for net income between £100 and £200. [37927]
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, dated 10 January 2006:
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 non-resident parents were paying the flat rate of £5 child support per week in the latest period for which figures are available; and in how many cases these payments are being deducted from social security payments by the Child Support Agency.
You also asked how many and what proportion of non-resident parents have a net income such that they pay child support maintenance (a) at the £5 flat rate and (b) on the taper for net income between £100 and £200.
Due to the limitations of currently available new scheme management information, it is not possible to provide the number or proportion of non-resident parents with net income between £100 and £200. However, information can be provided about the number of parents paying child support maintenance at the £5 rate through analysis of maintenance calculations. This is presented below.
Under the new scheme, in most circumstances the minimum allowable calculation for a non-resident parent is £5.
However, if the non-resident parent (NRP) or their partner is on Income Support or Income Based Jobseekers Allowance, where their partner is also an NRP, then the total liability for them both is £5, split equally across both cases.
The NRP can also have a liability of less than £5 a week if they have children with more than one parent with care (PWC), but they do not share care with all of them. For example:
They have two children cared for by PWC A and also one child with PWC B. Care is shared with PWC B only.
The £5 liability is apportioned according to the number of children so 2/3 (£3.33) goes to PWC A and 1/3 (£1.67) to PWC B.
But, because care is shared with PWC B, liability in this case is reduced to nil, meaning the NRP has a total liability of £3.33 in respect of PWC A.
Additionally, if the NRP had a nil assessment under the old scheme, has been reactively converted to the new scheme because of relevant links to a new scheme application, and received a new scheme assessment of £5 then, under phasing rules, the NRP would be liable to pay £2.50 for the first year rising to £5 thereafter.
It is therefore possible to have NRPs who are liable to pay £5 flat rate, but whose current liability is less than £5. For this reason, the figures quoted in the table below also include those NRPs who are liable to pay the flat rate of maintenance, but whose current liability is less than £5.
Figures relating to the total number and proportion of NRPs assessed to pay maintenance at a level of £5 or less and whether or not this is scheduled to be collected via a deduction from benefit are presented below.
Volumes are rounded to the nearest thousand and percentages to nearest whole percent. Due to rounding, components may not sum to totals.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many requests for information Child Support Agency staff made in each month since 2001 in relation to Scottish claims; and what the average time taken to receive a response was; [31124]
(2) how many requests to HM Revenue and Customs for information regarding the income of non-resident parents for Scottish claims were made by the Child Support Agency in each month over the last three years; and what the average time taken to respond was; [31125]
(3) what estimate he has made of the proportion of time staff working on Scottish claims at the Child Support Agency spent (a) assessing levels of maintenance, (b) on enforcement activity and (c) on compliance activity in (i) 1998 and (ii) the latest period for which figures are available; [31126]
(4) what the average time was in Scotland between receipt of an application by the Child Support Agency and the granting of a warrant from a magistrate in each of the last five years; [31132]
(5) how many compensation payments have been made in Scotland by the Child Support Agency for maladministration since 1 January 1998; and how many of these exceeded (a) £1,000, (b) £10,000 and (c) £50,000; [31135]
(6) how many complaints relating to Scottish claims have been made to the Child Support Agency in each month since January 2003; [31140]
(7) what the latest estimate is of the time taken to take action on a Scottish Child Support Agency claim clerically; [31141]
(8) how many people have (a) been sent to prison and (b) lost their driving licence for a period of time for refusing to comply with the Child Support Agency in regard to Scottish claims in each quarter since 1995–96; [31143]
(9) how many staff handling Scottish claims (a) were employed by the Child Support Agency and (b) left the Child Support Agency in each of the last six years; [31146]
(10) what plans he has for Child Support Agency staff numbers handling Scottish claims for the period 2005 to 2008; [31148]
(11) what proportion of Child Support Agency staff handling Scottish claims have been working for the Agency for (a) less than one year and (b) less than two years; and if he will make a statement. [31149]
Mr. Plaskitt: Information requested is not available for Scotland.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many penalties the Child Support Agency has issued in Scotland for (a) failure to provide information and (b) providing false information in each of the last eight years. [31128]
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, dated 10 January 2006:
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 penalties the Child Support Agency has issued in Scotland for (a) failure to provide information and (b) providing false information in each of the last eight years.
Pursuant to a request for information, making a statement or representation knowing it to be false (section 14A(2)(a)); and
Providing or knowingly causing or knowingly allowing to be provided a document or other information which is known to be false in a material particular (section 14A(2)(b)).
Failing to comply with a request for information without reasonable excuse (section 14A(3) of the Child Support Act 1991).
A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale (i.e. a fine not exceeding £1000)
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of parents with care in Scotland on income support and income-based jobseeker's allowance has received Child Support Agency maintenance in each reporting period since 1999–2000. [31139]
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, dated 10 January 2006:
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 what proportion of parents with care in Scotland on income support and income-based jobseeker's allowance have received Child Support Agency maintenance in each reporting period since 1999–2000.
It is currently only possible to provide Scotland specific information for cases operating on the old computer system prior to the introduction of the new scheme in March 2003. Available figures are presented in the attached table.
Notes:
1. Percentages rounded to the nearest whole number.
2. Robust information covering the period from March 2003 to date is not currently available for new scheme cases, and old scheme cases on the new computer system.
3. The methodology used to produce these statistics is consistent with that used in the measurement of the Department's public service agreement target in this area. Namely, all those cases with a child maintenance calculation or assessment where the parent with care is on income support or income based jobseeker's allowance (including those with a nil liability) who are in receipt of maintenance.
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Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on how many occasions payments have been made in Scotland under the authority of the (a) Chief Executive and (b) the Deputy Chief Executive of the Child Support Agency but without their personal written authorisation; how much these payments have amounted to; and for what reasons they were made. [31142]
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 Stephen Geraghty, dated 10 January 2006:
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 on how many occasions payments have been made in Scotland under the authority of the (a) Chief Executive or (b) the Deputy Chief Executive of the Child Support Agency but without their personal written authorisation; how much these payments have amounted to; and for what reasons they were made.
All payments made by officers of the Child Support Agency are made under the authority of the Chief Executive as the Accounting Officer for the Agency—this includes all payments made in Scotland. There are delegated authority levels and controls in place throughout the Agency to support these arrangements. In certain exceptional circumstances, the personal written authorisation of the Chief Executive or his Deputy is required before payment of redress can be made.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many and what proportion of applications for child maintenance support from people in Wales were awaiting processing at the end of each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement; [39468]
(2) what the average time was for processing child maintenance support cases originating in Wales in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement; [39469]
(3) how many and what proportion of applications for child maintenance support from people in Wales took (a) under one month, (b) between one and three
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months, (c) between three and six months, (d) between six and 12 months and (e) over a year to process in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [39470]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information can not be provided at the geographical level requested.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many compensation payments to Welsh claimants have been made by the Child Support Agency for maladministration since 1997; what proportion of total claims for child maintenance support this represents; and how many exceeded (a) £1,000, (b) £10,000, (c) £50,000 and (d) £90,000; and if he will make a statement. [39471]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is not available broken down by nationality, including for Welsh claimants.
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