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12 Mar 2008 : Column 426W—continued
It should be noted that it is difficult to use this information to make meaningful comparisons over time due to changes in the way that information has been recorded. In particular, whilst the volume of complaints undoubtedly rose between 2002-03 and 2003-04, this is likely to have been due in part to more rigorous recording of complaints received at the time, and the introduction by the Agency of a three tier complaints process during 2003-04.
Since April 2006, as a result of the improvements to client service made under the Operational Improvement Plan the number of complaints received has fallen. In addition the Agency revised and simplified the complaints process from April 2007, removing a tier from the resolution process and introducing specialist case workers responsible for resolving all aspects of our clients' complaints.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
| Child Support Agency complaints—number of complaints received in the Agency 1997 to 2007 | ||||||||||
| 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
| (1) Whilst the Agency did receive telephone complaints prior to 2002-03, their volumes were not recorded. (2) Although 671 stage 1 telephone complaints were recorded between December 2002 and March 2003, their volumes were not recorded throughout the whole year, thus preventing meaningful comparison with later years. (3) Whilst the Agency did receive complaints directly to the chief executive, treat official complaints, and MP complaints to business units prior to 2000-01, their volumes were not recorded. (4) During 2003-04 complaints sent directly to the chief executive were not recorded separately from those complaints that were escalated to him as part of the 3-stage process. Therefore, although 7,183 complaints in total were received during 2003-04, it is not possible to separate out those complaints received by the chief executive directly (as opposed to those escalated via the complaints process), thus preventing meaningful comparison with data for earlier years. (5) In April and May of 2004, the chief executive received a total of 1,447 complaints however, is not possible to separate out those complaints received by the chief executive directly, as opposed to those escalated to stage 3 of the complaints process). From June 2004-March 2005, after which time such complaints were recorded separately, the chief executive received 4,393 direct complaints and 2,594 complaints escalated upwards from stage 2. Again, these recording issues prevent meaningful comparison of this category with earlier years. (6) Treat official letters are those received by a Minister from a member of the public, and referred for initial consideration to an official of the Agency. (7) Changes to how the Agency recorded complaints over the years means that comparisons of the numbers of complaints received are not easily made. The Agency initially operated a two tier complaints process to deal with escalated complaints. A third tier was introduced in 2003, - see notes (4) and (5). In the year ending March 2006, 7167 stage 1 complaints required escalation to resolve and 4,673 in year ending March 2007. | ||||||||||
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints have been made about the Child Support Agency (a) by people in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency and (b) nationally in the last two years. [191956]
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 12 March 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 complaints have been made about the Child Support Agency (a) by people in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency and (b) nationally in the last two years. [191956]
Information on the number of complaints received is not collated at parliamentary constituency, local authority or regional level. Information on the number of complaints received nationally by the Agency is set out in the attached tables.
Since April 2006, as a result of the improvements to client service made under the Operational Improvement Plan the number of complaints received has fallen. In addition the Agency revised and simplified the complaints process from April 2007, removing a tier from the resolution process and introducing specialist case workers responsible for resolving all aspects of our clients' complaints.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
| Child Support Agency—number of complaints received by the Agency 2005 to 2007 | ||
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
| (1) The agency operated a three tier complaints process throughout 2005-06 and 2006-07. In the year ending March 2006, 7,167 stage 1 complaints required escalation to resolve and 4,673 in year ending March 2007. (2) Treat official letters are those received by a Minister from a member of the public, and referred for initial consideration to an official of the agency. Note: Under the Operational Improvement Plan, the agency introduced a new complaints resolution process from April 2007. This simplified process has just two stages; the number of complains received for 2007-08 will be published in the agency's annual report and accounts. | ||
Child Support Agency: Finance
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the running costs of the Child Support Agency were in each of the last 10 years. [185127]
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 Stephen Geraghty, dated 12 March 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, what the running costs of the Child Support Agency were in each of the last 10 years. [185127]
The information requested is provided in the attached table.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
| Child Support Agency’s running costs years 1997-98 to 2006-07 | |
| Financial year | £ million |
| Notes: 1. All information from the 2005-06 and earlier years is sourced from the Child Support Agency Annual Report and Accounts. 2. In 2005-06 following National Audit Office advice the agency’s accounting, boundaries were changed resulting in the inclusion of Child Support Reform Programme costs in the Agency’s Annual Accounts. The 2005-06 accounts and the 2004-05 comparatives were changed accordingly. In line with this policy the table includes Child Support Reform costs from 1999-2000 onwards. 3. 2005-06 and 2006-07 includes investment for the Operational Improvement Plan. | |
Children: Maintenance
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will break down the number of non-resident parents from whom the Child Support Agency is seeking to collect maintenance arrears by (a) age of their debt and (b) the amounts owed within each age of debt band. [181253]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter of the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 12 March 2008:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of Sate promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will break down the number of non-resident parents from whom the Child Support Agency is seeking to collect maintenance arrears by (a) age of their debt and (b) the amounts owed within each of debt age band.
The Agency reports the amount of outstanding debt in its Annual Report and Accounts, the latest version of which is held in the House of Commons library. The information requested is supplementary to that reported and therefore the additional analysis provided in the attached table does not include the provisions applied as a result of the annual debt analysis exercise within the Agency's accounts.
The original Child Support Computer System (CSCS) does not record the age of outstanding arrears. This means that the age of any debt accrued on that system including debt on cases subsequently migrated to the new computer system (CS2) can not be reported. The tables provided therefore are restricted to a breakdown of debt accrued on CS2, and summary totals for debt held on CSCS and for debt accrued on CSCS which has since been migrated from CSCS to CS2.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
| Number of non resident parents with outstanding debt accrued on CS2, and amount of debt outstanding by age band: November 2007 | ||
| Age of debt | Amount of debt outstanding (£ millions) | Number of non resident parents |
| (1) Each non-resident parent may be included in several lines. | ||
| Number of non resident parents with outstanding debt migrated from CSCS to CS2 and amount of debt outstanding: November 2007 | |
| Number of non resident parents with outstanding debt on CSCS and amount of debt outstanding: November 2007 | |
| Notes: 1. A non resident parent has been recorded within each time band in which they have debt outstanding in e.g. if they have debt that is less than three months old, debt that is 3-6 months old, and debt that is 6-9 months old they will be counted in all three age bands. Therefore the number of NRPs given in the answer cannot be totalled to show the number of NRPs with outstanding debt. 2. If a NRP also has debt which has migrated from CSCS to CS2, they will be counted again in this category. 3. The number of NRPs has been rounded to the nearest hundred; the amount of outstanding debt has been rounded to the nearest hundred thousand. 4. The Agency reports the amount of outstanding debt in its Annual Report and Accounts. The information set out in these tables is supplementary to that reported and therefore does not include the provisions applied as a result of the annual debt analysis exercise within the Agency's accounts. 5. The Agency conducts an annual debt analysis exercise to estimate the collectability of the amounts outstanding at the end of each year. The Agency estimates that of the £3.7 billion total debt outstanding at March 2007, £1.5 billion is classed as collectable. | |
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