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15 Mar 2007 : Column 505W—continued
NHS: Vacancies
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether her Department offers guidance to primary care trusts on maximum acceptable staff vacancy rates (a) across a trust as a whole and (b) for non-acute in-patient services. [122535]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department does not offer guidance to primary care trusts about the maximum rate of vacancies they should be carrying. Workforce planning is a matter for local determination.
Tomography
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to include diagnostic ultrasound as a listed service for the purposes of regulation and inspection by the Healthcare Commission; and what discussions she has had with the Healthcare Commission to explore how obstetric diagnosis ultrasound services could be regulated and inspected under existing legislation. [122771]
Andy Burnham: Independent hospitals, clinics and medical agencies providing any of the listed services set out in section 2(7) of the Care Standards Act 2000 are subject to regulation by the Healthcare Commission, unless exempted by any regulation made under that Act.
Diagnostic ultrasound techniques are not separately included as a listed service in section 2(7) of the 2000 Act. However the provision of obstetric services and, in connection with childbirth, medical services are among the listed services. Such services may include the use of some diagnostic ultrasound techniques.
The Department has no plans to include separately diagnostic ultrasound techniques as a listed service in the future.
Work and Pensions
Child Support Agency
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what targets the Child Support Agency has for processing and reducing the volume of cases processed clerically; and if he will make a statement. [122884]
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.
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 targets the Child Support Agency has for processing and reducing the volume of cases processed clerically; and if he will make a statement. [122884]
The Child Support Agency has been set six targets 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
Two of these targets relate to the processing and clearing of applications received since the new scheme was introduced in March 2003 and include the Agency’s clerical cases. The first concerns the volume of applications being cleared and states that: by 31 March 2007, the Agency will have reduced the volume of uncleared new scheme applications by 25 per cent of the amount outstanding by the end of March 2006.
The second concerns the speed with which new applications should be processed and states that by 31 March 2007, the Agency will clear 55 per cent of new applications within 12 weeks of receipt and 80 per cent within 26 weeks.
Reducing the number of clerical cases is dependent on rectifying the existing defects on the Agency’s computer system — work will continue over 2007 to resolve these defects. To date the Agency has reduced the amount of new cases that need to be processed clerically by introducing a number of fixes to the computer system. The Agency aims to restore its clerical cases onto the computer system when the system is working effectively.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many additional new scheme Child Support Agency cases were being processed clerically in each month since January 2005; and if he will make a statement; [122885]
(2) what proportion of clerical Child Support Agency cases involved parents with care in receipt of benefits in each month since January 2005; and if he will make a statement. [122893]
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, dated 15 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 two related questions:
how many additional new scheme Child Support Agency cases were being processed clerically in each month since January 2005; and if he will make a statement;
what proportion of clerical Child Support Agency cases involved parents with care in receipt of benefits in each month since January 2005; and if he will make a statement.
Information regarding the number of cases being processed clerically is available from March 2005 onwards and is published in table 20 of the December 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:
However, the information you have requested about the proportion of those cases that involved parents with care in receipt of benefits is not currently available.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many days training were provided to Child Support Agency staff in the last 12 months. [122896]
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.
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 days training were provided to Child Support Agency staff in the last 12 months. [122896]
As a result of a capability review under the Operational Improvement Plan, almost 2000 Executive Officers were placed in Team Leader or Complex Caseworker roles.
The Team Leader training includes sessions on Standards of Client Service and the importance of Quality Assurance in preventing complaints. Management skills training is included providing people with the skills to enable them to deal with attendance management, capability and conduct.
People identified as Complex Caseworker are receiving up to 16 weeks of training. This training provides Complex Caseworks with technical knowledge, time management skills, case practice, communication skills (to clients and colleagues) and peer assurance in order to maintain accuracy, and enables them to secure client outcomes on high risk and non-compliant clients.
The information requested is provided in the attached table:
I hope you find this answer helpful.
| Training days | |
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Child Support Agency staff received training in each month since commencement of the Operational Improvement Plan; and if he will make a statement. [122897]
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.
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 staff received training in each month since commencement of the Operational Improvement Plan; and if he will make a statement. [122897]
As a result of a capability review under the Operational Improvement Plan, almost 2000 Executive Officers were placed in Team Leader or Complex Caseworker roles.
The Team Leader training includes sessions on Standards of Client Service and the importance of Quality Assurance in preventing complaints. Management skills training is included providing people with the skills to enable them to deal with attendance management, capability and conduct.
People identified as Complex Caseworker are receiving up to 16 weeks of training. This training provides Complex Caseworks
with technical knowledge, time management skills, case practice, communication skills (to clients and colleagues) and peer assurance in order to maintain accuracy, and enables them to secure client outcomes on high risk and non-compliant clients.
The information requested is provided in the attached table.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
| People trained | |
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) total and (b) full-time equivalent Child Support Agency staff were engaged in processing (i) old scheme and (ii) new scheme maintenance claims in each month of the last two years for which figures are available. [122921]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 23 February 2007]: 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, dated 15 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 many (a) total and (b) full-time equivalent Child support Agency staff were engaged in processing (i) old scheme and (ii) new scheme maintenance claims in each month of the last two years for which figures are available. [122921]
The attached table details the people working on processing new applications for each scheme in full-time equivalents for each month of the last two years. I regret that the information is not available on the number of individual people employed in these areas in each month.
The clearance process includes all work undertaken on applications for child maintenance until one of the following conditions is met: a parent with care has been identified as claiming Good Cause or is subject to a Reduced Benefit Decision; the application is identified as being change of circumstances on an existing case; the application is identified as being a change of circumstances on an existing case; the application has been closed; or for old scheme cases a maintenance assessment has been carried out and for new scheme cases, a payment arrangement between the parent with care and the non-resident parent is in place.
The Agency holds only a negligible number of completely unprocessed applications. The amount of work required to achieve clearance, and the length of time involved, varies considerable depending on, amongst other things, the circumstances of the parents and how readily they cooperate with Agency. The work undertaken by the Agency’s New Client Teams extends far beyond simply clearing new applications through the computer system. A significant proportion of the work undertaken by the Agency’s New Client Teams consists of setting up the first maintenance payments to the parent with
care, and retaining responsibility for the growing caseload until the first fully complaint, on time payment is made by the non-resident parent.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
| 2005 | Old scheme | New scheme |
| Notes: 1. The table includes all Agency people working on child maintenance applications for either the old or new schemes. These people continue working on applications beyond the point at which the application is recorded as cleared until the first full on-time payment has been made. 2. The information is derived from a clerical count provided monthly by each area within the Agency. 3. This count is made in whole time equivalents—there is no comparable count of people involved. 4. The numbers include people in Great Britain and Northern Ireland working for the Agency on cases from Great Britain. 5. People working on old scheme cases on CS2 are included in old scheme totals. | ||
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