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8 Nov 2006 : Column 1623W—continued
Child Support
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what liaison he authorises the Child Support Agency to have with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority to ascertain whether heavy goods vehicle drivers have current licences and thereby investigate their current employment status. [97748]
Mr. Plaskitt: 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.
Letter from Mr Stephen Geraghty, dated 8 November 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 liaison he authorises the Child Support Agency to have with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority to ascertain whether heavy goods vehicle drivers have current licences and thereby investigate their current employment status.
Section 14 of the Child Support Act 1991 provides the power for the Secretary of State to require specified person to provide information. The associated Regulation specify persons employed by the Crown under the Road Traffic and Vehicle Excise and Regulation Acts as having a duty to provide information to allow us to trace Non Resident Parents.
The Agency currently has a Service Level Agreement with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority to provide information to aid the tracing of Non Resident Parents. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency database holds information on all vehicles registered within the United Kingdom including heavy goods vehicles.
The Agency provides the vehicle registration details and the name of the Non Resident Parent they wish to trace, to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. They in turn check their records and where possible, match the information with any identical entries held, and report data to the Child Support Agency.
We can then use this information in checking the current employment status of Non Resident Parents, and to approach employers in support of a maintenance calculation.
I hope you find this response helpful.
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases remain unprocessed by the Child Support Agency; and if he will make a statement. [93594]
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 Hilary Reynolds, dated 19 October 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 am responding, with his authority, on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases remain unprocessed by the Child Support Agency; and if he will make a statement.
The Agency begins to process new applications as soon as they are received and continues until they have been cleared. The amount of work required to achieve clearance and the elapsed time it involves varies considerably depending on, amongst other things, the circumstances of the parents and how readily they cooperate with the Agency.
The number of cases not yet processed through to an outcome (cleared) can be found in the table 2.1 in the June 2006 Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary Statistics, where uncleared applications are those in the course of being processed; a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library, or on the internet via the following link. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/child_support/csa_quarterly_junOS.asp
I hope you find this helpful.
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Child Support Agency cases remain to be unprocessed. [94073]
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.
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 am responding, with his authority, on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Child Support Agency cases remain to be unprocessed.
In answering this question, I have assumed that you are in fact referring to the number of applications that remain to be processed. This information can be found in table 2.1 in the June 2006 Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary Statistics, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library, or on the internet http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/child_support/csa_quarterly_jun06.asp.
This table shows that 274,000 potential applications across both old and new Child Support Schemes had yet to be cleared at the end of June 2006. This figure represents a fall of 10 per cent. from June 2005.
I hope you find this helpful.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the legislation governing the Child Support Agency contains provisions covering the enforcement by a parent with care of unpaid Child Support Agency maintenance arrears; and if he will make a statement. [97324]
Mr. Plaskitt: Child support legislation is a codified system that provides for the Secretary of State to arrange for collection and where necessary to exercise discretion on taking enforcement action. The duty on the Secretary of State relieves the parent with care from taking action to enforce. These duties were confirmed by the House of Lords in 2005 when ruling on the case of Kehoe.
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how much has been spent by his Department on referring Child Support Agency cases with outstanding arrears to debt collection agencies since August 2005; how much such agencies have collected in outstanding arrears; and if he will make a statement; [99329]
(2) how many unresolved Child Support Agency cases are currently with debt collection agencies. [99330]
Mr. Plaskitt: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been written off by the Child Support Agency in respect of debts classified as with limited prospects of recovery for cases in Peterborough constituency in each year since 2001; and if he will make a statement. [99709]
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 Hilary Reynolds, dated 8 November 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 am responding, with his authority, on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much has been written off by the Child Support Agency in respect of debts classified as with limited prospects of recovery for cases in Peterborough constituency in each year since 2001; and if he will make a statement.
With regard to the Agency's debt balance in the Peterborough constituency, the Agency does not collect data that enables the reporting of debt balances at constituency level. Although we cannot provide the information, at the level you requested, the following background may be helpful.
The Agency does not have any powers to write-off any debts owed by non-resident parents (NRP).
The Agency carries out an annual debt analysis exercise to establish the collectability of NRP debt, which informs the provisioning in the Agency Annual Report and Accounts. The gross debt balance, as at 31 March, is reduced by the value of the probably uncollectable debt and a proportion of the possibly uncollectable debt. This exercise and its results are subject to review by the National Audit Office as part of their audit of the Agency's accounts. The 2005/06 Accounts were published Monday 24 July 2006 and can be accessed on http://www.csa.gov.uk/new/about/#S3.
I hope you find this response helpful.
Departmental Contracts
Mr. Philip Hammond:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what the total value of the contracts that his Department has held with (a) ER consultants and (b) Praesta in each of the last three
years has been; and which Ministers have made use of their services; [91058]
(2) what the total value was of contracts held by his Department with (a) ER consultants and (b) Praesta in each of the last three years; and which Ministers have made use of their services. [91989]
Mr. Jim Murphy [holding answer 13 September 2006]: The total value of contracts with the Department held by ER consultants and Praesta in the last three years is given in the following table. No current DWP Ministers have made use of their services. We are unable to ascertain whether former DWP Ministers have made use of their services without incurring disproportionate costs.
| £ | |||
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
Departmental Expenditure
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies in respect of hotel and other similar privately-provided accommodation (i) in the UK and (ii) abroad for (A) Ministers, (B) staff and (C) other persons in each year since 2001-02. [91905]
Mrs. McGuire: The amount spent by the Department for Work and Pensions, including its agencies and non-departmental public bodies, on hotel and other similar privately provided accommodation for the Financial Years 2003-4 to 2005-6 is shown in the following table:
| (£ million) | |
| Hotels etc. | |
Information on the other breakdowns requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Information relating to overseas travel by Ministers is published on an annual basis. Information for the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2006 is available in the Library of the House.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by his Department on food and alcohol for its staff working out of office in each year since 2001-02. [91906]
Mrs. McGuire: Information on expenditure on food and on alcohol is not available. The Department does not keep separate records of expenditure to this level of detail.
All expenditure is made in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in Government accounting.
Departmental IT
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of information technology projects undertaken by or for his Department since 2001 have been delivered (a) over budget, (b) after their original deadline, (c) on budget, (d) under budget, (e) on their original deadline and (f) ahead of their original deadline. [97550]
James Purnell: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which non web-related information technology projects cost his Department more than £1 million since 2001; how many qualified tender proposals there were for each project; and which company was awarded each contract. [97551]
James Purnell: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department has spent on (a) information technology projects generally and (b) web-facing projects in each year since 2001, broken down by (i) expenditure on consultants and (ii) other costs. [97554]
James Purnell: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Departmental Spending
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent on each category of benefit administered by his Department in the last year for which figures are available. [99847]
Mr. Plaskitt: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Discretionary Housing Payments
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 10 October 2006, Official Report, column 642W, on discretionary housing payments, what action he is taking to ensure that housing benefit claimants facing benefit shortfalls are made aware of the availability of discretionary housing payments to help with their rent. [96067]
Mr. Plaskitt: Discretionary housing payments can be made by local authorities to housing benefit or council tax benefit claimants who, in the opinion of the local authority concerned, require further financial assistance with their rent or council tax liability. As the scheme is discretionary, it is up to local authorities how they operate it.
We have included questions for local authorities on how these arrangements are working in Wave 12 of the Local Authority Omnibus Survey. This survey was
published at the end of last month. It includes questions on how local authorities publicise this scheme, and how useful they find the current guidance. Local authorities have indicated that they would wish to see more examples of good practice and information on the types of case that can be helped by these payments. We will, of course, take this into account when considering any future guidance.
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was allocated (a) to each London local authority and (b) in each region of the UK under the discretionary housing payment scheme in each of the last five years; and what proportion was used in each case. [99923]
Mr. Plaskitt: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many discretionary housing payments were awarded in each London local authority in each of the last five years; and what the average value was of those payments during that period. [99924]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information is not available.
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