House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 16 Mar 2006 (pt 19)

16 Mar 2006 : Column 2453W—continued

Child Support Agency

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what payment has been made to the contractor who supplied the Child Support Agency's updated IT system; and if he will make a statement. [53739]

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.

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Letter from Hilary Reynolds:

In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. The Chief Executive is currently unavailable as he is communicating the Operational Improvement Plan to all Agency staff, I am therefore responding on his behalf.

You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what payment has been made to the contractor who supplied the Child Support Agency's updated IT system; and if he will make a statement.

The Child Support Agency's new IT system (CS2) was provided by Electronic Data Systems (EDS) under the Child Support Reform (CSR) contract for IT services. The Agency's administrative accounts confirm charging of £133 million for the delivery and operation of CS2 between January 2003 and August 2005 under the CSR contract.

In August 2005, the Department agreed a general realignment of its IT contracts with EDS. As part of this realignment from August 2005 the Agency no longer receives invoices from EDS, instead the Department is charged centrally. The Department's businesses are currently agreeing the accounting methodology and principles for recharging EDS costs. Information on charging for CS2 since August 2005 will be available after the financial year end when the Agency's accounts are compiled and audited.

I hope you find this response helpful.

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many current Child Support Agency cases are regarded as linked cases; and what his definition is of a linked case. [54237]

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 Hilary Reynolds:

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 the Chief Executive is currently on leave, I am responding on his behalf.

You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many current CSA cases are regarded as linked cases; and what is his definition of a linked case.

The Agency regards a case as linked" when it is associated in some way with another case.

Linked cases can be:

Old scheme cases linked to other old scheme cases on the old computer system (CSCS),

New scheme cases linked only to other new scheme cases; and

Old scheme cases linked to new scheme cases.

Links to new child support applications can be further divided into 'relevant' or 'non-relevant':

Relevant links are ones where the new application will have a financial impact on the linked case. This will occur when either the non-resident parent or the parent with care in a new scheme application is also the non-resident parent or parent with care in another case.

Non-relevant links are ones which will not affect the calculation, such as an address already held on file as one previously occupied by an existing or former client.

When a new child support application is made, one or more links may be established to existing cases. If a link is established to one or more cases on the old system (CSCS), then these will be transferred to the new computer system (CS2), along with any further cases that are linked to this chain. This is known as reactive migration. Where the links are relevant (as defined above), the old scheme cases in question will also be converted to the new scheme. This is called reactive conversion.

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It is not currently possible to say how many old scheme cases have links to other old scheme cases, and neither is it possible to say how many new scheme cases have links to other new scheme cases. Information is, however, available for old scheme cases with links to new scheme cases.

As at the end of December 2005:

There were 305,000 old scheme cases on the new computer system (CS2). These are cases that have been reactively migrated due to being linked to new scheme cases.

Of those old scheme cases that had been reactively migrated from the old system to the new system, we estimate that around 35,000 cases had relevant links to new scheme cases and have now been converted. We estimate that a further 50,000 cases also have relevant links and are currently awaiting conversion.

I hope you find this helpful

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what (a) national and (b) local targets have been set for call centre performance on (i) the legacy Child Support Computer System and (ii) the new CS2 system in the Child Support Agency; and what the performance against such targets has been for each measurement period within the last three years for which data is available. [54240]

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.

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Letter from Hilary Reynolds:

You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what (a) national and (b) local targets have been set for call centre performance on (i) the legacy Child Support Computer System and (ii) the new CS2 system in the Child Support Agency; and what the performance against such targets has been for each measurement period within the last three years for which data is available.

The Agency currently has two telephony targets. These apply to new system (CS2) calls only:

No less than 85 per cent. of CS2 calls available to staff should be answered.

New system calls should be answered within an average of 2 minutes.

In addition, there are a further two targets that are internal to the National Helpline (the Agency's telephony service). These are:

No less than 85 per cent. of old system (CSCS) calls available to staff should be answered.

Old system calls should be answered within an average of 50 seconds.

The Agency has seven call centres, based in Dudley, Hastings, Falkirk, Plymouth, Birkenhead, Belfast and Liverpool. Telephony targets apply at local and national level, and performance against these is shown in the attached tables.

I hope you find this helpful.

Table 1: Target: No less than 85 per cent. of CS2 calls available to staff should be answered

Dudley Hastings Falkirk Plymouth Birkenhead Belfast Liverpool Agency

CS2 calls answered as a percentage of calls available to staff
2003–04 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 78

2004–05 85 85 84 84 82 79 75 83

April-December 2005 87 90 92 91 90 90 78 90

Notes:
1. Performance against this target is derived by measuring the percentage of calls that are answered, of those available to staff. For CS2, these are calls that connected to the queue for an agent, after navigating the automated/touch tone part of the process.
2. Performance for 2003–04 is only available for the Agency as a whole and cannot be separated down into separate call centres.
3. Robust data for CS2 is available only from July 2003. Therefore the figure for Agency performance in 2003–04 is based on data for July-March only.
4. Percentages are rounded to the nearest 1 per cent.

Table 2: Target—No less than 85 per cent. of CSCS calls available to staff should be answered

Dudley Hastings Falkirk Plymouth Birkenhead Belfast Liverpool Agency

CSCS calls answered as a percentage of calls available to staff
2003–04 72 68 84 72 71 50 80 71

2004–05 82 82 88 82 80 79 90 85

April-December 2005 83 86 93 91 90 90 94 91

Notes:
1. Performance against this target is derived by measuring the percentage of calls that are answered, of those available to staff.
2. Percentages are rounded to the nearest 1 per cent.

Table 3: Target: Calls regarding CS2 cases should be answered within two minutes

Dudley Hastings Falkirk Plymouth Birkenhead Belfast Liverpool Agency

Time taken to answer CS2 calls, in minutes
2003–04 02:17 02:15 01:43 02:49 02:31 02:41 n/a 2.22

2004–05 01:58 02:21 02:24 02:35 02:33 03:09 01:15 2.29

April-December 2005 01:45 01:22 01:18 01:24 01:30 01:35 02:00 1.29

Notes:
1. Performance against this target is measured by considering the time taken for calls to be answered from the moment at which they are available to staff to be answered. For CS2 calls, this excludes the time taken by customers to navigate the automated/touch tone part of the process.
2. The time taken to answer CS2 calls in Liverpool is not available for 2003–04.
3. Figures are presented as minutes and seconds, and are rounded to the nearest second.

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Table 4: Target: Calls regarding CSCS cases should be answered within 50 seconds

Dudley Hastings Falkirk Plymouth Birkenhead Belfast Liverpool Agency

Time taken to answer CSCS calls, in minutes
2003–04 01:18 02:25 00:55 01:49 02:28 05:22 01:27 2.12

2004–05 00:31 01:08 00:36 01:13 01:18 01:05 01:12 0.56

April-December 2005 00:28 00:41 00:23 00:31 00:36 00:34 00:36 0.32

Notes:
1. Performance against this target is measured by considering the time taken for calls to be answered from the moment at which they are available to staff to be answered. There is no automated/touch tone system for CSCS calls.
2. Figures are presented as minutes and seconds, and are rounded to the nearest second.

	Dudley	Hastings	Falkirk	Plymouth	Birkenhead	Belfast	Liverpool	Agency
CS2 calls answered as a percentage of calls available to staff
2003–04	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	78
2004–05	85	85	84	84	82	79	75	83
April-December 2005	87	90	92	91	90	90	78	90

	Dudley	Hastings	Falkirk	Plymouth	Birkenhead	Belfast	Liverpool	Agency
CSCS calls answered as a percentage of calls available to staff
2003–04	72	68	84	72	71	50	80	71
2004–05	82	82	88	82	80	79	90	85
April-December 2005	83	86	93	91	90	90	94	91

	Dudley	Hastings	Falkirk	Plymouth	Birkenhead	Belfast	Liverpool	Agency
Time taken to answer CS2 calls, in minutes
2003–04	02:17	02:15	01:43	02:49	02:31	02:41	n/a	2.22
2004–05	01:58	02:21	02:24	02:35	02:33	03:09	01:15	2.29
April-December 2005	01:45	01:22	01:18	01:24	01:30	01:35	02:00	1.29

	Dudley	Hastings	Falkirk	Plymouth	Birkenhead	Belfast	Liverpool	Agency
Time taken to answer CSCS calls, in minutes
2003–04	01:18	02:25	00:55	01:49	02:28	05:22	01:27	2.12
2004–05	00:31	01:08	00:36	01:13	01:18	01:05	01:12	0.56
April-December 2005	00:28	00:41	00:23	00:31	00:36	00:34	00:36	0.32

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 10 January 2006, Official Report, column 611W, on the Child Support Agency, what targets are in place for the processing of the backlog of applications. [45646]

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.

Letter from Stephen Geraghty:

In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of the 10th January 2006 Official Report column 611W on the Child Support Agency what targets are in place for the processing of the backlog of applications.

The Child Support Agency is making every effort to reduce the backlog of applications.

Between January and December 2005, the number of outstanding un-cleared potential applications across both the old and the new schemes fell by 10 per cent, from over 362,000 to 327,000 (figures rounded to the nearest thousand).

Volumes of uncleared new scheme applications have stabilised and are no longer growing. Indeed, they fell by 2 per cent. between April and December 2005, standing at 259,000 at the end of the period.

In the Operational Improvement Plan announced by the Secretary of State on 9th February 2006, the Agency set itself the target of reducing the backlog of applications to the point where, by March 2009, 80% of applications will be cleared within 12 weeks and there will be no backlog in this area.

I hope you find this helpful.

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