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12 Mar 2007 : Column 155W—continued
Armed Forces: Pensions
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how he expects survivors’ benefits to be arranged as an aspect of the personal accounts in the planned pension reform; in what circumstances and to whom a survivor’s benefit will be paid; in what circumstances it would not be paid; what would happen to an individual’s personal account money in those circumstances; and if he will make a statement. [123227]
James Purnell: Personal accounts will be a multi-employer occupational pension scheme. Arrangements for dealing with survivors’ and dependants’ benefits will be a matter for the scheme rules, as is the case for other occupational pensions, and will need to operate within the existing legal framework.
Benefits
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what the claimant off-flow rates from (a) incapacity benefit and (b) severe disability allowance were in each of the last 15 years, broken down by reason for leaving the benefit; [101750]
(2) how many payments for (a) incapacity benefit and (b) severe disability allowance payments were terminated (i) as a result of employment and (ii) for other reasons, broken down by reason in (A) each London borough and (B) the UK in each of the last five years. [101751]
Mrs. McGuire: The available information has been placed in the Library.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the proportion of homes in each Government office region which had not received leaflets on the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning by December 2006. [123165]
Mrs. McGuire: This information is not available in the format requested.
However, research commissioned by the Health and Safety Executive in 2006 from University college London suggests that some 45 per cent. of households have received no information about gas safety issues. The Government have called on the gas industry to show leadership in raising public awareness of gas safety issues among the public.
Children: Maintenance
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how the Child Support Agency determines child maintenance amounts for payments between parents who are subject to a joint residency order with regard to the care of their child. [122128]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the chief executive. He will write to my hon. Friend with the information requested.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 12 March 2007:
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 the Child Support Agency determines child maintenance amounts for payments between parents who are subject to a Joint Residency Order with regard to the care of their child. [122128]
For a case under old rules where, a non-resident parent has care for a child for at least 104 nights a year (that is, two nights a week on average), an allowance can be made in the maintenance formula for sharing the care of that child. The maintenance payment due to the child is then reduced pro-rate by the number of nights a week the child stays with him.
For a shared-care case under the new rules, if a non-resident parent provides overnight care for a child for at least 52 nights a year, an adjustment is also made to the amount of child maintenance due.
Child maintenance is not reduced if the child stays with the non-resident parent for less than 52 nights a year.
If the care of the child is shared on a 50 per cent. basis, the entitlement to Child Benefit will determine who the parent with care is for child maintenance purposes.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he intends, under the system proposed in the White Paper ‘A new system of child maintenance’, that child maintenance cases where both parents’ names appear on the birth certificate will be given priority over cases where the father is unknown. [123160]
Mr. Plaskitt: There are no plans to give priority to child maintenance cases where both parents’ names appear on the birth certificate. However, as now, a person who applies for child maintenance should provide sufficient information to identify the non- resident parent.
Mr. Mackay: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will review the effectiveness of data collection and reporting systems at the Child Support Agency. [126358]
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 Stephen Geraghty, dated 12 March 2007:
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, if he will review the effectiveness of data collection and reporting systems at the Child Support Agency. [126358]
Until 2005, the Agency’s IT difficulties meant that robust information regarding cases on the new computer system was unavailable. In order to resolve these difficulties, the Agency begun working with the Department’s Information Directorate (responsible for National Statistics and Business Information) to revise and quality assure statistical data. Since then, much progress has been made.
Under the Operational Improvement Plan the management information produced by the Child Support Agency is expanding and improving. Additional tables have been made available in each successive Quarterly Summary Statistics report since September 2005, and this report now provides a much fuller picture of the Agency’s operations than has been available in the past.
The Agency’s management information and data reporting is also undergoing an increasingly robust scrutiny process. Whilst this has resulted in the recalculation of some information previously reported, it represents an important part of a process to ensure the Child Support Agency has a highly effective process of data collection and reporting.
The Child Support Agencies Quarterly Summary Statistics can be accessed online at www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/csa.asp
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress his Department is making on achieving targets set out for the Child Support Agency under the operational improvement plan. [126361]
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 12 March 2007:
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 progress his Department is making on achieving targets set out for the Child Support Agency under the Operational Improvement Plan. [126361]
The initial phase of the Operational Improvement Plan has focused on the organizational and operational restructuring of the Agency, and the training of our people to increase our capacity and capability. No commitments were made for the first year but once this phase is complete we can expect to see more clearly the benefits of the Plan.
However, even now early results show improvements in several key areas and more money is already getting to more children; at the end of December 2006 compared with a year ago the Agency was providing:
More money for more children—58,000 more children were in receipt of maintenance or had a maintenance-direct arrangement in place.
A higher proportion of non-resident parents paying or using maintenance direct—59 per cent of new scheme cases with a liability made a payment or arranged Maintenance Direct (up from 54 per cent)
A fall in uncleared applications of 13 per cent (across both schemes) since March 2006 which in the last three months have been at their lowest since comparable records began in May 1999.
Applications cleared more quickly: 55 per cent within twelve weeks (up from 49 per cent and meeting target level for March 2007) and 74 per cent within six months (up from 64 per cent)
Improving Client Service—The Agency answered 97 per cent of queued calls over 12 months (up from 90 per cent)
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Departments: Appeals
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many independent bodies existed to hear appeals on decisions made by his Department and its executive agencies in (a) 1997-98, (b) 2001-02 and (c) 2005-06; and how many there have been in 2006-07 to date. [121669]
Mrs. McGuire: The information requested is in the following table.
Departments: Complaints
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints were received by his Department and its executive agencies in (a) 1997-98, (b) 2001-02 and (c) 2005-06; and how many have been received in 2006-07 to date. [121668]
Mrs. McGuire: Centrally, the Department for Work and Pensions does not separately identify complaints from other forms of correspondence. Each of the Department’s agencies and customer facing units has its own complaint handling procedures.
Jobcentre Plus was formed in 2001, from the Benefits Agency and the Employment Service. Information is not available from Jobcentre Plus for 1997-98 and 2001-02. The available information is in the following table:
| Complaints received by Jobcentre Plus in Great Britain | |
| Number | |
The Pension Service was formed in April 2002. Information is not available from the Pension Service prior to this time. The available information is in the following table:
| Complaints received by the Pension Service in Great Britain | |
| Number | |
| Note: The figure for 2006-07 includes 502 complaints from hon. Members, since October 2006. No such breakdown is available for previous years. | |
The Disability and Carers Service was first formed in 2002 as the Disability and Carers Division; it became an agency in November 2004. Information is not available from the Disability and Carers Service prior to January 2002. The available information is in the following table:
| Complaints received by the Disability and Carers Service in Great Britain | |
| Number | |
| Note: The figure for 2005-06 includes 2,804 complaints from hon. Members; the figure for 2006-07 includes 2,274 complaints from hon. Members. No such breakdown is available for previous periods. | |
The Department’s Debt Management organisation was established in 2001 and became fully operational in February 2006. Information is not available from Debt Management prior to July 2005. The available information is in the following table:
| Complaints received by DWP Debt Management in Great Britain | |
| Number | |
The Child Support Agency was formed in 1993 as an executive agency of the Department of Social Security; it became an executive agency of the Department for Work and Pensions on its formation in June 2001. The available information is in the following table:
| Complaints received by Child Support Agency in Great Britain | |
| Number | |
Departments: Consultants
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which external consultants were used by (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies in relation to private finance initiatives in 2005-06; and what the (i) nature and (ii) cost of the work was in each case. [123008]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department has one existing private finance initiative contract, let in 1998 and expanded in 2003, with Land Securities Trillium (LST) for the provision of fully serviced accommodation. To support the Department in the management of this complex PFI contract, external consultants have been commissioned to provide professional advice. The costs incurred by the Department in year 2005-6 are described in the table.
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