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25 Jun 2007 : Column 444W—continued

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what budget will be allocated to the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission to allow it to assist parents in making their own private arrangements for child maintenance; and if he will make a statement. [145364]

Mr. Plaskitt: It will be up to the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission to decide how best to deploy its resources to meet its statutory objectives. The overall level of resources allocated to the Commission will be negotiated in the usual way as part of the Department’s planning processes.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the average level of maintenance payments for two children (a) through the existing Child Support Agency on the new scheme and (b) through the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission; and if he will make a statement. [145366]

Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is as follows.

(a) The average maintenance liability for cases where there are two qualifying children through the existing Child Support Agency on the new scheme is £30 per week.

(b) With the increased focus on voluntary arrangements and the ending of the requirement that parents with care on benefit be treated as applying for child maintenance, not all of the current Child Support Agency caseload will choose to use the statutory maintenance service. Since we do not know the precise composition of the resulting caseload, it is not possible to estimate the average level of maintenance liabilities that will arise.

However, the new formula has been chosen to broadly replicate the current system, although the new rates mean that non-resident parents with two qualifying children at most income levels will pay slightly more as the following table shows:

	Two qualifying children
Weekly gross income	2003 rules	Proposed rules
£50	5	7
£150	17	20
£250	41	40
£350	55	56
£450	68	72
£550	82	88
£650	96	104
£750	110	120
£1,000	141	152
£3,000	377	392

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of child maintenance cases under the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission are expected to be calculated using HM Revenue and Customs gross income figures for the previous year; and if he will make a statement. [145367]

Mr. Plaskitt: Initial estimates are that in steady state around 90 per cent. of cases will have their liability based on HMRC income data or DWP benefits data.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of child maintenance cases which will have (a) overpayments and (b) underpayments under the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission; how such under and overpayments will be managed; and if he will make a statement. [145368]

Mr. Plaskitt: No estimates have been made on the number of child maintenance cases that will have overpayments and underpayments under the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission. The management of such payments will be an issue for C-MEC to consider and take steps as necessary.

25 Jun 2007 : Column 445W

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what provision there will be for those paying maintenance under the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission to request in-year reviews of their maintenance liabilities when their income changes; and if he will make a statement. [145369]

Mr. Plaskitt: Immediate in-year reviews will be allowed when a non-resident parent’s income changes by at least 25 per cent.

Other immediate in-year reviews will still be allowed. These will include:

The non-resident parent leaves work and goes onto benefit—or vice versa.

A qualifying child dies, or moves abroad, or starts work.

Maintenance is applied for in respect of a new child from the same non-resident parent.

An application for a variation is successful.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much of the Child Support Agency's maintenance arrears were collected in each (a) month and (b) quarter since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [145370]

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 26 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, how much of the Child Support Agency's maintenance arrears were collected in each (a) month and (b) quarter since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

The information you asked for is included in the attached tables. Data on the old scheme was only recorded quarterly (until March 2003). Monthly figures are available from March 2003 onwards.

The Agency now collects more than double the amount of arrears payments each quarter, than in 1997. We will continue to focus on collecting arrears of maintenance during 2007/08, as we aim to increase the total maintenance collected to £970 million, collecting at least £120 million in maintenance arrears.

I hope you find this answer helpful.

25 Jun 2007 : Column 446W

(a) The amount of monthly arrears received by the Agency in each month between March 2003 and March 2007
Monthly	Arrears received (£ million)
March 2003	5.5
April 2003	5.1
May 2003	5.3
June 2003	5.3
July 2003	5.6
August 2003	5.0
September 2003	5.4
October 2003	5.7
November 2003	4.9
December 2003	5.2
January 2004	5.6
February 2004	4.9
March 2004	5.8
April 2004	5.3
May 2004	5.1
Jun 2004	6.3
July 2004	5.6
August 2004	5.8
September 2004	5.4
October 2004	5.5
November 2004	6.0
December 2004	5.6
January 2005	5.6
February 2005	5.6
March 2005	6.3
April 2005	5.9
May 2005	6.5
June 2005	7.0
July 2005	7.5
August 2005	6.7
September 2005	6.2
October 2005	6.7
November 2005	7.2
December 2005	6.4
January 2006	6.9
February 2006	6.2
March 2006	7.5
April 2006	6.4
May 2006	7.9
June 2006	7.3
July 2006	7.4
August 2006	7.0
September 2006	6.7
October 2006	8.0
November 2006	7.7
December 2006	7.0
January 2007	7.9
February 2007	8.0
March 2007	9.2
Notes: 1. Arrears are accrued when the non-resident parent does not pay the full amount of regular maintenance due. 2. Monthly management information is not available prior to March 2003. 3. Monetary values are rounded to the nearest 0.1 million. 4. Monthly amounts of maintenance collected (total regular and arrears) will not sum to the financial year figures published in the Annual Accounts, as they do not include end year adjustments.

25 Jun 2007 : Column 447W

(b) The amount of quarterly arrears received by the Agency in each quarter since May 1997
Quarterly	Arrears received (£ million)
May 1997	8.8
August 1997	10.2
November 1997	11.1
February 1998	11.8
May 1998	13.3
August 1998	13.5
November 1998	15.2
February 1999	14.6
May 1999	15.9
August 1999	16.9
November 1999	16.0
February 2000	15.7
May 2000	15.5
August 2000	15.9
November 2000	15.5
February 2001	15.6
May 2001	16.0
August 2001	16.2
November 2001	15.7
February 2002	15.4
May 2002	16.5
August 2002	16.1
November 2002	16.5
February 2003	15.7
June 2003	15.6
September 2003	16.0
December 2003	15.8
March 2004	16.4
June 2004	16.7
September 2004	16.8
December 2004	17.2
March 2005	17.5
June 2005	19.4
September 2005	20.5
December 2005	20.3
March 2006	20.6
June 2006	21.5
September 2006	21.1
December 2006	22.7
March 2007	25.1
Notes: 1. Arrears are accrued when the non-resident parent does not pay the full amount of regular maintenance due. 2. In mid 2003 the month in which this data was collected changed, therefore, there is a change in the quarterly time series between February 2003 and June 2003. 3. Monetary values are rounded to the nearest 0.1 million. 4. Monthly amounts of maintenance collected (total regular and arrears) will not sum to the financial year figures published in the Annual Accounts, as they do not include end year adjustments.

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