| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
17 Sep 2007 : Column 2268W—continued
Child Support Agency: Payments
Mr. Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases resulted in the Child Support Agency (CSA) in each of the last three years; how many such payments the CSA made in each year; and what the total amount of such payments was in each year. [151853]
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 Duncan Gilchrist, dated 13 September 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. As the Chief Executive is currently on annual leave I am responding, with his authority, on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases resulted in the Child Support Agency making a conciliatory payment in each of the last three years; how many such payments the CSA made in each year; and what the total amount of such payments was in each year. [151853]
The information provided in the table below reflects the total number of consolatory awards, not the number of cases where a payment has been made. A client may have been awarded separate payments in respect of, for example, embarrassment and
severe distress. Figures quoted in the table will therefore count two awards against the one case. It is unfortunately not possible to provide the number of cases where a consolatory payment has been made, as we do not routinely collect this information.
| Total amount of consolatory awards to clients | |||
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
Child Support Agency: Standards
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many unprocessed Child Support Agency cases there were in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex in each of the last 12 months. [151402]
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 Duncan Gilchrist, dated 17 September 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. As the Chief Executive is currently on annual leave I am responding, with his authority, on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many unprocessed Child Support Agency cases there were in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex in each of the last 12 months.[151402]
The information requested is provided in the attached table.
The Agency begins to process new applications as soon as they are received and continues until they have been cleared. Uncleared applications will be at varying stages in the application processes, with very few being completely unprocessed.
This table does not include those cases where the parent/person with care’s residential postcode is not recorded. In some of these cases, the Agency holds a residential address without a postcode; a “contact” address; or a business address. We have excluded cases that have not yet reached the stage in the process where the postcode information has been confirmed, as it is not possible to associate them to a local authority. At June 2007 there were 22,600 uncleared applications with an ‘unknown’ Local Authority. This equates to 13% of all uncleared cases in June 2007.
Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. As the quality of the management information within the Agency improves, the figures are subject to revision and information in the table, therefore, may differ slightly from previously released figures.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
| Volume of uncleared applications in East Sussex local authority: new and old scheme from July 2006 to June 2007 | |
| Number | |
| Volume of uncleared applications i n Eastbourne parliamentary constituency : new and old scheme from July 2006 to June 2007 | |
| Number | |
| Notes: 1. These tables counts applications for child support. Not all applications become live cases. 2. A potential new application is defined as cleared when it: has had a calculation and a payment arrangement set up (new scheme only) or has had an assessment (old scheme only); has been closed; has been identified as having had a good cause decision accepted; has been identified as being subject to a reduced benefit decision; has been identified as a change of circumstances to an existing case, as opposed to a new application (new scheme only). 3. Volumes are rounded to the nearest 10. 4. The figures are subject to revision and therefore may differ slightly from previously released figures. | |
Children: Maintenance
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what restrictions there are on the Child Support Agency accessing HM Revenue and Customs information about non-resident parents' (a) income, (b) employment status and (c) home address; and if he will make a statement. [146432]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Child Support Agency can only access HM Revenue and Customs information about non-resident parents' (a) income (b) employment status and (c) home address subject to meeting the requirements of the legal information gateways set out in the Child Support Act 1991, the Social Security Administration Act 1992, the Social Security Act 1998, the Tax Credits Act 2002, and the Data Protection Act 1998.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many non-resident parents being pursued by the Child Support Agency (a) have moved abroad and (b) are untraceable; and if he will make a statement. [146443]
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 17 September 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 being pursued by the Child Support Agency (a) have moved abroad and (b) are untraceable; and if he will make a statement. [146443]
Information on the number of non-resident parents who are untraceable is not available. The number of non-resident parents currently residing abroad but within our jurisdiction is reported in the Agency Quarterly Summary Statistics and, as of March 2007, currently stands at 6,600. We do not have any information on any non-resident parents living abroad outside our jurisdiction.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the Child Support Agency compliance rates are in cases where the parent with care is on benefits with (a) a complete clawback of maintenance and (b) a £10 per week disregard of maintenance; and if he will make a statement. [146445]
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 September 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 the Child Support Agency compliance rates are in cases where the parent with care is on benefits with (a) a complete clawback of maintenance and (b) a £10 per week disregard of maintenance; and if he will make a statement.
Information on the numbers of parents with care on income based benefits is only available to August 2006. The compliance rate for new scheme cases where the parent with care was in receipt of income based benefits and therefore eligible to receive the £10 child maintenance premium was 65 per cent. in the quarter ending August 2006. The compliance rate for old scheme cases where the parent with care was on income based benefits and therefore not eligible to receive the child maintenance premium was 64 per cent. in the quarter ending August 2006.
I hope you find this helpful.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much income support was recovered by the Child Support Agency in each year from 1993-94 to 2007-08; and if he will make a statement. [146446]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is not available in the format that you have requested. Although the agency publish total payments made to the Secretary of state in the annual report and accounts, the amount of child maintenance recovered to the Secretary of state cannot be fully broken down by each benefit.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the proportion of parents with care who received any form of regular child maintenance from the non-resident parent in each year from 1990-91 to 2007-08; and if he will make a statement. [146447]
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 Duncan Gilchrist, dated 13 September 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. As the Chief Executive is currently on annual leave I am responding, with his authority, on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of parents with care who received any form of regular child maintenance from the non-resident parent in each year from 1990-91 to 2007-08; and if he will make a statement. [146447]
The information requested can be obtain from Table 7.2 of the March 2007 Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics. A copy of this is available in the House of Commons Library, or on the internet via the following link:
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in how many and what percentage of cases that were dealt with by the Child Support Agency in the last 12 months it was impossible to establish the identity of the non-resident parent due to failure to register parenthood jointly on the birth certificate; and if he will make a statement. [146628]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is not available.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the proportion of non-resident parents whose child maintenance payments will rise by more than (a) 10 per cent., (b) 20 per cent., (c) 30 per cent. and (d) 50 per cent. under the new arrangements for the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission; and if he will make a statement. [146631]
Mr. Plaskitt: 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. In many cases parents will choose to make voluntary arrangements supported by an information and support service. Since these arrangements are a matter for parents to agree upon it is not possible to estimate the proportion of non-resident parents whose child maintenance payments will rise by more than certain percentages.
Where parents do choose to use the statutory maintenance arrangements the proposed statutory maintenance formula has been chosen to broadly replicate the current system. Figures on the amount paid under the second child support scheme and
statutory maintenance arrangements under different income levels and for different family sizes can be found in table 2, page 19 of the regulatory impact assessment which accompanied the Child Maintenance and Other Payment Bill.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the current rate of deduction for child maintenance is for non-resident parents on benefits by the Child Support Agency; when the rate was fixed; what the rate would be worth if uprated by the retail price index; and if he will make a statement. [147081]
Mr. Plaskitt: The current flat rate of deduction in respect of child maintenance from non-resident parents who are in receipt of benefit is £5 per week. The current flat rate was fixed when the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 was granted Royal Assent in July 2000.
We estimate that if the £5 flat rate had been uprated each March, in line with the retail price index, it would currently be £5.99 per week.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |