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2 Mar 2006 : Column 882W—continued
South Africa
Dr. Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on his Department's activities in South Africa. [53711]
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Hilary Benn: DFID supports the Government of South Africa in three priority areas: growth, jobs and equity; HIV/AIDS and vulnerability; and governance, democracy and service delivery.
DFID's work on growth, jobs and equity helps to access poor people to South Africa's formal economy so that they can benefit from the resources which are already available (in areas such as land, and finance) but from which they are currently excluded. It also helps South Africa translate the growth in its economy into jobs. Secondly, work on HIV/AIDS and vulnerability helps South Africa to tackle its growing HIV/AIDS pandemic, through supporting a range of partners (National and Provincial Governments, civil society groups and the private sector) across a range of activities from prevention, through care, support and treatment to mitigating the impacts of HIV on communities and society. Following the crop failures and resulting hunger which hit Southern Africa in late 2002, and DFID's response of providing more than £150 million in food aid, DFID SA took on a new role of developing a longer term regional response to food insecurity in Southern Africa. Work on this, along with work on social protection issues, has been incorporated into our work on HIV/AIDS, under a broader vulnerability theme. Thirdly, DFID's work on governance, democracy and service delivery helps South Africa deliver quality public services in an equitable way to all citizens. A particular focus has been reform and capacity building of provincial and local government to strengthen their delivery of basic services, including education and health. Our bilateral budget for South Africa in 2006–07 is £23 million.
DFID is launching a Regional plan for Southern Africa on the 28 February 2006. The Regional plan will tackle cross boundary issues in growth, jobs and equity; resilient livelihoods; and peace/security. Examples of areas where DFID plans to support work under the Regional plan include trans-boundary water management; transport infrastructure; customs border posts; treatment and prevention of infectious diseases in the region.
Spending Review (Efficiency Targets)
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what baseline figures he is using for assessing progress on his Department's targets to reduce (a) the total number of civil service posts by 170 and (b) the number of in country posts by 124; what progress has been made towards these targets to date; and what the total efficiency savings achieved to date are for these targets. [52938]
Hilary Benn: In December 2005 DFID agreed a revised Efficiency Technical Note which contains baseline figures for all its efficiency targets. The Technical Note is available to the public on DFID's website (http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/efficiency-technical-note.pdf).
The baseline figure for the total number of civil service posts was 1,780 in April 2004, and for in-country posts the baseline was 1,162 in April 2004. However there have been a number of subsequent definitional changes which have increased this initial baseline.
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DFID remains on course to meet its home civil service target of 1,610 by March 2008 and its intermediate target for March 2006 of 1,820.
The reduction in our in-country posts to 950 by March 2008 has already been achieved.
These savings are part of DFID's overall administration cost efficiency gain which will amount to £20 million by the end of 2007–08.
Tsunami
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development from which budget his Department's donation to the tsunami relief effort was taken. [54037]
Hilary Benn: Of the £75 million pledged, £20 million was drawn from DFID's crisis response budget, £30 million from DFID's general reserve, and a further £25 million from the Government's central reserve.
WORK AND PENSIONS
Carers (Housing Benefit)
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what provision is made for the accommodation needs of carers in housing benefit assessments. [32554]
Mr. Plaskitt: Housing benefit is paid to help meet the rental liability on the dwelling that the claimant occupies as their home. Housing benefit rules restrict the amount of rent for which help is available to reasonable levels, taking into account the size of the claimant's household. The determination of reasonable rent takes account of the individual needs and circumstances of the claimant and their household. In general, no account will be taken of those carers for whom the claimant's dwelling is not their home.
Child Support
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many child support cases on the CS2 system were assessed under a default maintenance decision in each year since 2003. [52729]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 27 February 2006]: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the right hon. Member with the information requested.
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 child support cases on the CS2 system were assessed under a default maintenance decision in each year since 2003.
The number of new-scheme applications resulting in an initial default maintenance decision per year is presented in the table, attached.
Notes:
1. Since the new-scheme became operational in March 2003, information for 2003 covers the period of March-December. Data for 2004 and 2005 covers the full calendar year.
2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 500 and percentages to the nearest per cent.
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) internal and (b) external legal advisers have been consulted by the Child Support Agency since August 2005 over the case of Mr. Edward Saul; what the total cost of this advice has been; and if he will make a statement. [53830]
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. Friend with the information requested.
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 You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) internal and (b) external legal advisers have been consulted by the Child Support Agency since August 2005 over the case of Mr. Edward Saul; what the total cost of this advice was; and if he will make a statement.
As details about individual cases are confidential I have written to you separately about this case.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has for Child Support Agency staff numbers for the period 2005 to 2008; and if he will make a statement. [21857]
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.
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 plans he has for Child Support Agency staff numbers for the period 2005 to 2008.
Child Support Agency staffing at the end of December 2005 was 10,649 full time equivalents (FTE). The plans for staff numbers up to 2008 can be seen in the table.
| Date as at 31 March: | Planned CSA Staffing (FTE(16)) |
|---|---|
| 2006 | 11,371 |
| 2007 | 10,782 |
| 2008 | 9,590 |
(16) Full time equivalent (FTE) converts staff numbers to express the hours part-time staff are contracted to work as a proportion of full-time hours.
We are planning to increase staffing levels in the CSA to support the delivery of the Operational Improvement Plan. Some of the additional posts will be filled by redeploying staff from other parts of the department where staffing levels are reducing.
No other part of the department will have to make additional headcount reductions as part of our staffing plans for the CSA.
While our plans do include a temporary increase in CSA staffing, the Agency's headcount target for March 2008 remains unchanged from that already included in the department's wider efficiency plan to reduce departmental staffing levels by 30,000 between March 2004 and March 2008.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of applications were cleared by the Child Support Agency because (a) a maintenance calculation was made and a payment arrangement put in place, (b) good cause was established and (c) the parent with care was subject to a reduced benefit direction, in each quarter of the last five years for which information is available. [40484]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
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 and what proportion of applications were cleared by the Child Support Agency because (a) a maintenance calculation was made and a payment arrangement put in place (b) good cause was established and (c) the parent with care was subject to a reduced benefit direction in each quarter over the last five years where the information is available.
The attached table shows the number and proportion of old scheme cases that were cleared due to assessments and reduced benefit decisions (RBDs) between July 2001 and March 2003, and also the breakdown requested for new scheme cases between April and December 2005.
From the available management information, I am not able to say how many old scheme cases were cleared as a result of being identified as claiming good cause, or to provide numbers for the period between April 2003 and March 2005 for the new scheme or for the old scheme from April 2003 to present.
Notes:
1. An old scheme application is defined as cleared if the case is closed or a maintenance assessment has been carried out. In addition, an application is also counted as cleared if the parent with care (PWC) is identified as claiming good cause or the PWC is subject to a reduced benefit decision. This differs slightly to the definition of a new scheme clearance (see below) and figures from the two schemes will therefore only be broadly, and not directly, comparable.
2. A new scheme application is defined as cleared if the case is closed or a maintenance assessment has been carried out and a maintenance collection schedule set up. In addition, an application is also counted as cleared if the parent with care (PWC) is identified as claiming good cause, or the PWC is subject to a reduced benefit decision, or is identified as being a change of circumstance to an existing application, as opposed to a new one.
3. The figure for other" clearances on the old scheme (July 2001 to March 2003) includes those cases cleared because the PWC has been identified as claiming good cause, or the case has been closed, or the case has been cleared for any other reason. It is not possible to identify figures for good cause separately.
4. The figure for other" clearances on the new scheme (April to December 2005) includes those cases cleared because the case has been closed, or the application has been identified as a change of circumstance to an existing application.
5. Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand, and percentages to the nearest 1 per cent. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.
Mr. Devine: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were employed by the Child Support Agency in each year between 2000 and 2005. [44017]
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Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Mr. Stephen Geraghty. He will write to the right hon. Friend with the information requested.
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 people were employed by the Child Support Agency in each year between 2000 and 2005.
The attached Table below contains the number of full time equivalent staff in post in the months requested. The figures include fixed-term appointments and temporary staff, but not Northern Ireland staff (who are part of the Northern Ireland Civil Service).
Notes:
1. Cabinet Office mandate methodology excludes staff on nil pay, maternity leave and staff on reduced pay due to sickness.
2. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has introduced standard definitions for use in the calculation of all public sector employment statistics. In line with other public sector organisations DWP has now implemented the ONS definitions. The ONS definition includes staff previously excluded, e.g. staff on maternity leave.
3. Historical data using this definition is now available backdated to February 2004, the baseline for the Department's efficiency challenge.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reason he has not published the review of the Child Support Agency undertaken by the chief executive and completed in December 2005. [50242]
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Mr. Plaskitt: Last year the Agency chief executive, Stephen Geraghty, undertook a review of the Agency's operations. A summary of his findings have been made available on the Department's website.
The Secretary of State has announced a redesign of the child support system—to be led by Sir David Henshaw and an Operational Improvement Plan to improve the Agency's performance. Copies of the terms of reference and Operational Improvement Plan are in the Library and have been made available on the Department's website.
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