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18 Dec 2006 : Column 1568W—continued

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the performance targets of the Child Support Agency are; what progress has been made in meeting each target; and if he will make a statement. [102195]

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 18 December 2000:

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

18 Dec 2006 : Column 1569W

You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the targets are for the Child Support Agency; what progress has been made to date against each; and if he will make a statement.

The Child Support Agency has six targets set by the Secretary of State for 2006-07, which were published in the Agency's Business Plan, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library, or on the internet via the following link:

www.csa.gov.uk/pdf/english/reports/plan0607.pdf.

It should be noted that there was an error in the published definition of the debt target, which incorrectly stated that the performance level of 40 per cent. should be achieved over the financial year 2006-07 as opposed to the quarter ending March 2007, as was originally intended. The correct definition of this target is, therefore, that: 'The Agency will collect arrears equivalent to 40 per cent. of the amount accruing due to non-payment of regular maintenance between 1 January 2007 and 31 March 2007."

The Agency's latest performance against these targets was published in tables 2.1, 3, 7.2, 8.1, 12, and 17 of the September 2006 Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary Statistics, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library, or on the internet via the following link:

www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/child_support/csa__quarterly__sep06.asp.

The correction to the debt target definition was also made in this publication.

I hope you find this answer helpful.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) whether bonus payments made to employees of the Child Support Agency are based on (a) relative and (b) absolute levels of performance; [102196]

(2) what criteria are used to determine bonus payments to employees of the Child Support Agency. [102199]

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 18 December 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, whether bonus payments made to employees of the Child Support Agency are based on (a) relative and (b) absolute levels of performance [102196] And;

You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria are used to determine bonus payments to employees of the Child Support Agency. [102199].

The Child Support Agency is part of the Department for Work and Pensions and uses the following Departmental bonus schemes:

Individual Performance Bonus: 2006 was the last year of a 3-year pay deal. Under the terms of that deal, individual performance bonuses were paid to people who were rated as Top, Higher or Majority level under the Department’s performance management system - the Performance and Development System. That system operates on the basis of relative assessment.

Special Bonus: An individual may be awarded a one-off bonus outside the annual reward performance and development system exercise to recognise and reward exceptional personal achievement.

I hope you find this answer helpful.

18 Dec 2006 : Column 1570W

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Child Support Agency cases were (a) outstanding and (b) unprocessed in each year from 1993 to 2006; and if he will make a statement. [102202]

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 18 December 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 Child Support Agency cases are (a) outstanding and (b) unprocessed in each year from 1993 to 2006; 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. Any applications that have not yet been cleared can be regarded as outstanding. 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. As such, the Agency holds only a negligible number of completely unprocessed applications.

The attached table shows the number of uncleared applications at points in time between May 1999 and September 2006. For the period prior to May 1999, reliable management information on uncleared applications is not available.

The information provided in the table can be derived by combining information from Table 1 and Table 2.1 of the September 2006 Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library, or on the internet via the following link:

www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/child_support/csa_quarterly_sep06.asp

Although the total volume of uncleared applications, 247,500 in September 2006, is the lowest since comparable records began, the Agency recognises that this remains unacceptably high. The Agency therefore has a 2006/07 target to ensure that, by March 2007, the volume of new scheme uncleared applications outstanding at March 2006 is reduced by 25% and our challenge, as set down in our Operational Improvement Plan, is that the Agency should not have a backlog by March 2009.

I hope you find this answer helpful.

18 Dec 2006 : Column 1571W

Number of uncleared applications across both schemes between May 1999 and September 2006
	Total	New scheme	Old scheme
May 1999	334,500	—	334,500
May 2000	292,600	—	292,600
May 2001	304,500	—	304,500
May 2002	269,300	—	269,300
May 2003	272,300	48,900	223,400
May 2004	295,600	170,000	125,500
May 2005	294,100	223,500	70,500
May 2006	267,200	215,400	51,800
September 2006	247,500	200,500	47,100
Notes: 1 .A potential new application is cleared when it: —has had a calculation and a payment arrangement set up (new scheme only); —has had an assessment (old scheme only); —has been closed (both schemes); —has been identified as having had a good cause decision accepted (both schemes); —has been identified as being subject to a reduced benefit decision (both schemes); —has been identified as a change of circumstances to an existing case, as opposed to a new application (new scheme only). An application remains uncleared until it achieves one of the states above. 2. The old scheme began in February 1993. The new scheme began in March 2003. There are no reliable data on uncleared applications prior to May 1999. 3. Of the 47,100 old scheme applications still awaiting clearance, 23,900 are on the old Child Support Computer System (CSCS) and 23,100 on the new Child Support 2 (CS2) computer system. Of the 23,900 applications on CSCS, 23,000 are suspended, principally because the Agency has been unable to trace the non-resident parent. Similar types of applications will be included in work in progress on CS2 (for both old and new scheme applications), but the volumes cannot currently be quantified. 4. Volumes are rounded to the nearest hundred. For this reason, total applications may not always appear to equal new scheme applications plus old scheme applications. 5. This table counts applications for Child Support. Not all applications become live cases. It is not possible to quantify the extent to which the Agency's clerical new-scheme caseload is or is not included in the above numbers.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what total payments of Child Support Agency arrears have been made by absent parents in each (a) month, (b) quarter and (c) year since 1997-98; and if he will make a statement. [102203]

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:

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 total payments of Child Support Agency arrears have been made by absent parents for each (a) month (b) quarter and (c) year since 1997-98; and if he will make a statement.

The answer to your question can be found on the following table. Data on the old scheme (until March 2003) was only recorded quarterly. Monthly figures are available from March 2003.

The Agency now collects more than double the amount of arrears payments each quarter than it did in 1997. However, we are aware that there remains a great deal of work to be done in this area.

The Agency's Operational Improvement Plan, published in February 2006, includes:

a target to reduce historic debt owed by non-resident parents by £200m up to 2009;

a major increase in the number of designated enforcement people;

an objective to raise levels of case compliance for new scheme cases to 75 per cent by March 2008 and 80 per cent in March 2009.

We have also launched a Specialist Trace Service, so that cases which have been suspended because the Agency has insufficient information to trace the non-resident parent, can be transferred to the private sector to make use of their specialist tracing skills.
18 Dec 2006 : Column 1572W

As such, we plan to reduce significantly the levels of historic debt in the Agency, and ensure that more non-resident parents meet their responsibilities to their children.

I hope you find this answer helpful.

(a) The monetary value of maintenance arrears payments made by non-resident parents since March 2003, split by month
	£ million
March 2003	5.531
April 2003	5.058
May 2003	5.324
June 2003	5.257
July 2003	5.592
August 2003	4.954
September 2003	5.433
October 2003	5.652
November 2003	4.943
December 2003	5.197
January 2004	5.639
February 2004	4.921
March 2004	5.816
April 2004	5.292
May 2004	5.079
June 2004	6.307
July 2004	5.575
August 2004	5.783
September 2004	5.403
October 2004	5.500
November 2004	6.045
December2004	5.620
January 2005	5.628
February 2005	5.572
March 2005	6.325
April 2005	5.942
May 2005	6.501
June 2005	6.975
July 2005	7.491
August 2005	6.739
September 2005	6.224
October 2005	6.701
November 2005	7.238
December2005	6.363
January 2006	6.875
February 2006	6.225
March 2006	7.528
April 2006	6.361
May 2006	7.874
June 2006	7.289
July 2006	7.393
August 2006	7.038
September 2006	6.698
Note: Data on the old scheme (until March 2003) was only collected on a quarterly basis.

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