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13 Jun 2007 : Column 1109W—continued
There are an additional 290 applications that are currently being processed. It is not possible to say at present how many of these will result in a positive liability to pay maintenance.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Mr. Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of child maintenance payments collected by the Child Support Agency was made up of deductions from earnings orders in (a) 2005-06 and (b) 2006-07. [138696]
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 Jos Joures, dated 13 June 2007:
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what percentage of child maintenance payments collected by the Child Support Agency was made up through deductions from earnings orders in (a) 2005-06 and (b) 2006-07.
Of the cases with a positive maintenance outcome in the quarter ending March 2006, 25% had Deduction from Earnings Orders/Requests as the method of collection at the end of the period. At the end of March 2007, the equivalent figure was 23%.
A monthly breakdown from April 2005 onwards is presented in the attached table.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the Child Support Agency is able to initiate enforcement action to collect arrears in a case when there is a change of circumstances review taking place on the current liability. [140879]
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 13 June 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 whether the Child Support Agency is able to initiate enforcement action to collect arrears in a case when there is a change of circumstances review taking place on the current liability. [140879]
The Child Support Agency is able to initiate enforcement action to collect arrears in a case where there is a change of circumstances review taking place on the current liability.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Children: Poverty
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of (a) ethnic minority children and (b) non-ethnic minority children are estimated to live below the poverty line. [124514]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The information requested is available in the Households Below Average Income 1994-95 to 2005-06 (revised), table 4.5 on page 46. This is available in the House of Commons Library.
Crisis Loans
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what the timescale is for dealing with applications for crisis loans; [139503]
(2) how many people have been waiting for over two weeks for a decision following their application for a crisis loan; [139504]
(3) how many applications for a crisis loan remained to be dealt with as at 24 May 2007; and what the (a) longest and (b) average time taken to deal with an application for a crisis loan was in each of the last five years. [139505]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide my hon. Friend with the information requested.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, 13 June 2007:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions a bout the time taken to process applications for crisis loans. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The clearance time for an individual crisis loan is measured in whole working days from the date the application is received until the date the decision is taken on whether to make a loan offer, plus, if a loan offer is made, the number of whole working days between receiving the applicant’s reply to the offer and the recording of that reply. The minimum clearance time recorded for an individual application is one day, even if the application is cleared immediately.
The clearance time for an individual crisis loan is two days, but applications for living expenses must be dealt with on the same day as the application is made.
For 2006-067, 9,400 crisis loan applications in Great Britain took longer than two weeks to clear, representing 0.7 per cent. of all crisis loan applications cleared.
As of 30 April, there are 9,700 applications waiting for a decision. I am unable to provide a figure for the number of outstanding applications on 24 may 2007, as this data is counted as a snapshot figure at the end of each month.
Information on the longest time taken to deal with a crisis loan application is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The average actual clearance times (ACCT) for crisis loan applications in each of the last five years can be found in the following table.
| National crisis loan AACT in days | |
| Number | |
| Source: DWP social fund policy, budget and management information system. | |
Departments: Property
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost of leasing buildings and office space was for (a) his Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years. [139462]
Mrs. McGuire: The information requested is in the following table.
In April 1998, in a private finance initiative agreement, the Department for Social Security disposed of its property and assigned its leases to Trillium (now Land Securities Trillium) and commenced payment to Trillium of a monthly facility price for its occupation of the property and for facilities management services, such as maintenance and security. The costs shown include this facility price, together with utilities standing charges and business rates.
In December 2003, the PFI agreement was extended to incorporate former Employment Service properties. The costs shown also include equivalent Employment Service property costs prior to December 2003.
The costs shown include payments for other Government Departments.
| £ million | ||
| Department | Agencies | |
Costs for the Health and Safety Executive and the Rent Service are excluded, as the Commercial and Estates Directorate does not hold this information. The Appeals Service is also excluded after April 2006, when, as the Tribunal Service, it became part of the Department for Constitutional Affairs.
Departments: Public Relations
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been spent by his Department on public relations in each of the last five years. [139451]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department runs a number of promotional campaigns to increase awareness of people’s rights and responsibilities or changes to legislation. PR agencies are taken on where messages are most effectively promoted by supplementing ‘paid-for’ advertising (press/TV/radio) with public relations activity.
The following table detail spend on PR campaigns run by the Department in each of the last five financial years:
| Financial year | Spend (£000) |
Executive Agencies
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which of the executive agencies of his Department have regional offices outside London. [116734]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions has five executive agencies, as follows:
Child Support Agency;
Disability and Carers Service;
Jobcentre Plus;
The Pension Service;
The Rent Service.
The Department's estate consists of approximately 1,250 buildings, the majority of which are occupied wholly or in part by executive agencies. All of the Department's executive agencies have offices outside London.
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