Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
25 Jun 2007 : Column 447Wcontinued
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people (a) were sent to prison and (b) lost their driving licences for failing to co-operate with the Child Support Agency in each (i) quarter and (ii) year since April 1997. [145374]
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 25 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 many people (a) were sent to prison and (b) lost their driving licences for failing to co-operate with the Child Support Agency in each (i) quarter and (ii) year since April 1997.
The power to withdraw driving licences was brought into effect on 2 April 2001 (under the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000).
The attached table relates to information from 2002, as prior to this the Agency did not maintain a robust system for reporting sentences. The Agencys system for reporting includes sentences passed for England, Wales and Scotland. Numbers of committals and driving licence disqualifications are not routinely collected quarterly and are not readily to hand.
Commitment to prison or disqualification from holding a driving licence is the ultimate sanction available to the courts for recovery of arrears of Child Support maintenance. If the non-resident parent is found guilty of wilful refusal or culpable neglect the court will decide which of the available sanctions is the most appropriate.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many non-resident parents paid maintenance through the Child Support Agency only by deductions of up to £5 per week from benefits in each quarter since 2000-01. [145494]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive.
He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 25 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 many non-resident parents paid maintenance through the Child Support Agency only by deductions of up to £5 per week from benefits in each quarter since 2000-01 and if he will make a statement.
Such information as is available on the number of cases, which have a deduction from benefit in place from February 2000 to March 2007, is presented in the attached table. Information covering the period of December 2002 to September 04 is not available.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to improve the child maintenance and support arrangements for parents with responsibility for care in situations where the non-resident parent is unemployed and is unable to provide full maintenance payments. [145514]
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 25 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, what steps his Department is taking to improve the child maintenance and support arrangements for parents with responsibility for care in situations where the non-resident parent is unemployed and is unable to provide full maintenance payments.
The amount of child support maintenance assessed depends on the income of the non-resident parent and will therefore differ from case to case. The Agency believes parents on benefit have as much of a responsibility for their childrens upkeep as those who are working. Child Support Reforms introduced in 2003 required non-resident parents on benefit to pay child support maintenance at a flat rate of £5 per week. The Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill will, subject to Parliamentary approval, increase the flat-rate amount payable to parents with care, from £5 to £7 per week.
Parents with care who are also unable to work are of course eligible to claim benefit. Those on Income Support or income based Jobseekers Allowance will benefit from the Child Maintenance Premium which allows parents with care on benefit to keep a higher proportion of child support maintenance, up to £10 each week without it affecting their benefit.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many children were in households below (a) 60 per cent., (b) 50 per cent., (c) 40 per cent., (d) 30 per cent., (e) 20 per cent. and (f) 10 per cent. of median income in each year since 1994-95, broken down by (i) working and non-working households and (ii) household type. [135355]
Mr. Jim Murphy [holding answer 2 May 2007]: Figures on the 30 per cent. of median income threshold and any lower thresholds are not statistically robust as the sample sizes are too small.
The available information is in the following tables.
Table 1: Number of children living in households below 60 per cent. of median income, by working/not working households, before housing costs | ||
Million | ||
Working households | Non-working households | |
Next Section | Index | Home Page |