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23 Mar 2006 : Column 488W—continued
LEADER OF THE HOUSE
Delegated Legislation Committees
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Leader of the House on how many occasions in the last two years a division has been recorded in a standing committee on delegated legislation. [60755]
Nigel Griffiths: The information for the last two completed sessions and the current session is given in the following table:
| Session | Delegated Legislation committee meetings | Instruments considered | Divisions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | 149 | 185 | 29 |
| 2004–05 | 92 | 117 | 8 |
| 2005–06 (to 17 March) | 132 | 150 | 14 |
WORK AND PENSIONS
Benefit Payments Provision
Mr. Boswell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 6 February 2006, Official Report, column 860W, on benefit
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payments provision, how much debt owed to the Department has been recovered by private sector partners under the Enforcement Initiative. [51395]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Enforcement Initiative was set up in April 2004 to utilise the services of the private sector to assist the Department's debt collection activities.
Up to and including 31 January 2006 the initiative has recovered an overall total of £22.22 million. Of this £11.54 million has been collected directly by the private sector: this is made up of £4.70 million in corporate debt recovery and £6.84 million in benefit debt recovery.
Child Maintenance
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his latest estimate is of the proportion of parents with care on income support and income-based jobseeker's allowance who are receiving maintenance for their children. [41435]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested can be found in table 13 of the CSA's Quarterly Summary Statistics (QSS) document, a copy of which is available in the House Library.
For convenience, the relevant table is reproduced as follows.
Notes:
1. The above includes those old-scheme cases with a full maintenance assessment, and those new-scheme cases with either a full maintenance calculation, or a default maintenance decision. Old-scheme cases with a punitive interim maintenance assessment are excluded from this analysis in line with the Agency's target definition, as are new-scheme cases being processed clerically.
2. The Child Support Agency's PSA target was to double the proportion of parents with care on income support or income-based jobseeker's allowance who receive maintenance for their children to 60 per cent. by March 2006". This target has been rolled forward under SR2004 and increased to 65 per cent. by March 2008.
3. A parent with care is deemed to be on income support or jobseeker's allowance (income based) if they or their partner are in receipt of either benefit.
4. Old-scheme data from the old computer system (CSCS) are matched with administrative data from the benefits system to obtain the current benefit status of the parent with care. Those parents with care who are not themselves on benefit, but whose partner is, are excluded from this analysis due to lack of available data. It is not possible to match old and new scheme data from the new IT system (CS2) with administrative data from the benefits system, so this information is recorded as that held on the CSA system.
5. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole percent.
6. Robust data from the new IT system (CS2) covering the period March 2003—March 2004 is not currently available, and is under development.
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Child Support Agency
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the accuracy rate of Child Support Agency assessments since 1 January 2004; and if he will make a statement. [41406]
Mr. Plaskitt: Although accuracy is not as high as we would want there are some signs of improvement. The Agency's Operational Improvement Plan outlines how changes in processes will drive up accuracy standards.
Accuracy levels can be found in table 17 of the CSA's Quarterly Summary Statistics (QSS) document, a copy of which is available in the House Library.
For convenience, the relevant table is reproduced as follows.
| Percentage | ||
|---|---|---|
| New scheme | Old scheme | |
| April 2003—March 2004 | 82 | 86 |
| April 2004—March 2005 | 75 | 78 |
| April 2005—December 2005 | 83 | 84 |
Notes:
1. The Agency target for accuracy in 2005–06 is that by 31 March 2006 accuracy on the last decision made for all maintenance calculations (new scheme) and assessments (old scheme) checked in the year to be correct to the nearest penny in at least 90 per cent. of new scheme cases and 82 per cent. of old scheme cases.
2. Measurement of Agency performance against this target is based on checks carried out on a sample of cases that grows cumulatively throughout the year, and is designed to provide an optimal level of precision for the estimate of Agency accuracy at any financial year end.
3. While it is possible to derive year to date performance at any point within the reporting period in order to provide an indicative guide as to current (cumulative) performance, comparisons between individual months (particularly towards the beginning of the reporting period) are subject to sampling variation, meaning that any time series may not be wholly reflective of actual trends in performance. For this reason, figures have been provided for financial years for the period April 2003 to March 2005, and year to date for the current reporting year.
4. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole percent.
5. The figures included in this table do not themselves have national statistics status, but are included in this publication in order to give a fuller picture of CSA performance.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff (a) were employed by the Child Support Agency in each month since December 2003 and (b) are expected to be so employed in each month to March 2006, expressed in terms of (i) actual staff numbers and (iii) full-time equivalent staff; and if he will make a statement. [45031]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 25 January 2006]: 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, 23 March 2006:
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff (a) were employed by the Child Support Agency in each month since December 2003 and (b) are expected to be so employed in each month to March 2006 expressed in terms of (i) actual staff numbers and (ii) full-time equivalent staff; and if he will make a statement."
The table below contains all the information available on the number of actual staff and full/whole time equivalent staff in post in the months requested. The figures for all months up to and including November 2005 are actual figures sourced from the Department's shared payroll system. The figures include fixed-term appointments and temporary staff, but not Northern Ireland staff (who are part of the Northern Ireland Civil Service).
The Secretary of State announced on the 9th February the new Operational Improvement Plan for the Agency. The staffing for the Agency for future years will be agreed in due course.
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