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9 Jan 2008 : Column 568W—continued
Dr. Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many non-resident parents have been asked by the Child Support Agency (CSA) to pay historical arrears from 10 years or more ago; what evidence is used by the CSA to establish the level of arrears; and how many people have been unable to pay within two years. [166664]
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, 9 January 2008:
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 have been asked by the Child Support Agency (CSA) to pay historical arrears from 10 years or more ago; what evidence is used by the CSA to establish the level of arrears; and how many people have been unable to pay within two years. [166664]
Information on how many non-resident parents have been asked by the Child Support Agency to pay historical arrears from 10 years or more ago or on how many people have been unable to repay maintenance due within two years is not available.
The Agency establishes the level of child support arrears based on the weekly liability of the non-resident parent for any period that payments have not been made. In many cases, as the non-resident parent may not have co-operated fully in the assessment of their maintenance liability, the Agency will proceed on the basis of the best information available in order to start maintenance flowing to the children involved.
In cases where the non-resident parent has initially provided enough evidence to assess the maintenance liability but has subsequently failed to comply or to keep the Agency informed of any relevant changes, arrears will accrue based on the last maintenance assessment. Although the non-resident parent can at any time supply information which may lead to a review of this maintenance assessment from the time that the new information is supplied, regulations do not allow the arrears already accrued to be recalculated. In addition, any support that the non-resident parent may have provided direct to their children and without the Agency's involvement, can only be counted as complying with the maintenance assessment, and therefore reducing the arrears, if the parent with care agrees.
In cases where the non-resident parent, assessed under the old rules, has not supplied enough information to assess the maintenance liability the Agency may apply an interim maintenance assessment. This assessment is likely to be set at a rate higher than the non-resident parent's maintenance assessment would have been had they cooperated with the Agency, but it nevertheless remains enforceable. The high level of the assessment is intended to provide an incentive to co-operate with the Agency and provide the information required to make a full maintenance assessment.
In cases where the non-resident parent, assessed under the new rules, is unable to supply enough information to assess the maintenance liability the Agency may apply a default maintenance assessment. A default maintenance assessment is used to ensure that at least some maintenance flows to the children although it tends to be set at a safe level, usually lower than a full maintenance assessment.
In both these cases, where a full maintenance assessment is not in force, the non-resident parent can at any time supply the relevant information which may lead to a review of the interim or default maintenance assessment and obtain a revised arrears calculation where appropriate. In the case of interim maintenance assessments, this can lead to a substantial reduction in arrears owed.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Conditions of Employment: Mental Health
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 27 November 2007, Official Report, columns 27-30WS, on mental health and employment, when he expects to publish a national strategy for mental health and work; and if he will make a statement. [169842]
Mrs. McGuire: On 27 November we announced our intention to develop a national strategy for mental health and employment. The strategy will ensure that there is a co-ordinated response across Government to the challenges faced by people of working age with mental health conditions, improving their employment chances.
We intend to appoint a stakeholder steering group, to be chaired by Dame Carol Black, the National Director for Health and Work, to oversee the development of the strategy. This steering group will be appointed in the new year and will then lead work on the development of the strategy which forms part of wider work on the health and employment agenda.
The expansion of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme at a cost of £170 million over three years, together with the £13 million now made available by the DWP for additional support for GPs and employers, represents a considerable Government commitment to supporting those with mental health conditions. This is in addition to the funding already
committed to the roll-out of Pathways to Work, including the Condition Management programmes.
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 27 November 2007, Official Report, columns 27-30WS, on mental health and employment, what the evidential basis is for his statement that substantial progress has been made in mental health and employment since 1997. [169948]
Mrs. McGuire: Mental health and employment has been a long-standing problem, requiring a long-term solution. We have made progress in putting in place the necessary structures and initiatives which are already helping people with mental health conditions both to obtain and to remain in work.
The latest employment rate for disabled people whose main health condition is mental illness, depression or anxiety is 22 per cent. (Labour Force Survey July-September 2007). The employment rate for this group has significantly improved since 1998 when the employment rate was around 15 per cent.
Since 1997, there has been a significant increase in the funding provided for mental health services. We now have 55 per cent. more consultant psychiatrists than we had in 1997, almost 70 per cent. more clinical psychologists and at least 20 per cent. more mental health nurses. In October 2007, the Department of Health announced the expansion of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme at a cost of £170 million over three years.
Additionally, this Department has greatly increased the employment support it offers people with health conditions. Examples include the new deal for disabled people, including specialist individually tailored support and advice, as well as the piloting and continuing national roll-out of Pathways to Work, which includes the groundbreaking Condition Management Programmes.
Furthermore, from October 2008 incapacity benefits will be replaced by the new employment and support allowance, a more positive benefit offering additional support for customers in return for increased responsibility on them to engage with Jobcentre Plus. Underpinning the allowance will be a new medical test, the work capability assessment. The new assessment’s test of mental health will be significantly improved compared to the current personal capability assessment, dealing better with the challenges faced by people with mental health conditions and learning disabilities.
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 27 November 2007, Official Report, columns 27-30WS, on mental health and employment, how much his Department has spent on mental health services (a) in total and (b) as a percentage of departmental expenditure in each year since 1997. [169949]
Mrs. McGuire: Spending on mental health services generally, is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health.
This Department provides a range of services that provide help and support to people with mental health
problems. These programmes are generally available to those with mental and/or physical health problems. It is not possible to break down programme expenditure by specific health condition.
Departmental ICT
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many attempted hacking or suspected cyber attacks or other malicious computer security breaches were committed against the computer systems of (a) his Department and (b) the Child Support Agency in each of the last three years for which information is available; and if he will make a statement. [167985]
Mrs. McGuire: It is not in the interests of the UK’s national security for Departments to confirm whether they hold information about attacks against their IT systems. This would enable individuals to deduce how successful the UK is in detecting these attacks and so assist such persons in testing the effectiveness of the UK’s IT defences. This is not in the public interest.
Departmental Labour Turnover
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the percentage turnover of staff was in (a) his Department and (b) his Department’s agencies in (i) the last 12-month period and (ii) the last 24-month period for which figures are available. [169045]
Mrs. McGuire: The percentage turnover of staff in the Department for Work and Pensions and its agencies for the 12-month period ending March 2006 and the 12-month period ending March 2007 is in the following table.
| Percentage turnover 12-months ending March 2007 | Percentage turnover 12-months ending March 2006 | |
| Note: Appeals Service transferred to the Department for Constitutional Affairs on 1 April 2006. | ||
Departmental Public Expenditure
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the possibility of allocating savings made from the annual management expenditure budget to the departmental expenditure limit; and if he will make a statement. [169915]
Mrs. McGuire: My Department and HM Treasury have agreed that as savings in annual managed expenditure delivered by the Pathways to Work programme are demonstrated, HM Treasury will look to provide additional DEL funding to DWP to help fund further roll-out of the welfare reform agenda. Any such funding will be allocated through normal processes.
Employment
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of people who were in part-time work and who were seeking full-time work in each year since 1997. [173892]
Angela Eagle: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 7 January 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question what estimate has been made of the number and proportion of people who were in part-time work and who were seeking full-time work in each year since 1997 [173892].
The information requested is given in the table overleaf.
The figures in the table are estimates from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for the three month period ending in June of 1997, 1999 and 2001-07. Comparable estimates are not currently available for 1998 or 2000.
As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
| Part-time workers( 1) by whether looking for a replacement or additional full-time or part-time job( 2,3) , United Kingdom, April-June 1997, 1999, 2001-07, not seasonally adjusted | ||||||||||
| Thousand and percentage | ||||||||||
| Looking for a new job to replace present (main) job | Looking for an additional job | |||||||||
| Three months ending June | Full-time | Part-time | No preference: full-time or part-time | Total( 4) | Full-time | Part-time | No preference: full-time or part-time | Total( 4) | Not looking for a replacement or additional job | Total( 1,5) |
| (1 )Employees and self-employed people whose main job is part-time (based on respondents' self-classification of full-time/part-time status). (2 )Whether looking for a different job (to replace present main job) or for an additional job during the survey reference week. (3 )Estimates at this detailed level are produced from the LFS microdata, which are weighted to the population estimates published by ONS in February and March 2003. They do not incorporate the more recent population estimates used in the headline LFS series that are published in the monthly Labour Market Statistics First Release. (4 )Total includes people who did not state whether they were looking for a full-time or part-time job. (5 )Total includes people who did not state whether or not they were looking for a different or additional job. (6 )Base for percentage excludes people who did not state whether they were looking for a different/additional job, or whether they were looking for a full-time or part-time job. (7) Comparable estimates are not currently available for 1998 or 2000. Note: As with any sample survey, estimates from the Labour Force Survey are subject to a margin or uncertainty. Source : Labour Source Survey | ||||||||||
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