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13 Mar 2008 : Column 566W—continued
Work and Pensions
Child Support
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the percentage change in money outstanding in support payments in cases being dealt with by the Child Support Agency was between (a) April 2006 and March 2007 and (b) each month between April 2006 and March 2007. [183208]
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 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 percentage change in money outstanding in support payments in cases being dealt with by the Child Support Agency was between (a) April 2006 and March 2007 and (b) each month between April 2006 and March 2007. [183208]
Information on the amount of debt outstanding is published in table 22 of the quarterly summary of statistics. This shows the outstanding debt balance for 2005/06 was £3.5 billion, which increased to £3.7 billion for 2006/07 an increase of 5.5 per cent. The agency has been successful at reducing the rate of growth from around £23 million per month during 2004/05 to around £20 million per month during 2005/06 to around £16 million per month during 2006/07.
The table below provides the monthly percentage change in debt.
| Debt (£ billion) | Percentage increase | |
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many non-resident parents with outstanding debt with the Child Support Agency are living abroad; and what the total amount was of maintenance owed by non-resident parents living abroad in each of the last 10 years for which information is available. [185916]
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 13 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 non-resident parents with outstanding debt with the Child Support Agency are living abroad; and what the total amount is of maintenance owed by non-resident parents living abroad in each of the last 10 years for which information is available. [185916]
At the end of November 2007, there were 5,000 cases on the new computer system (CS2) where a non-resident parent with debt was recorded as living outside the UK. The total debt recorded on these cases was £26,143,000.
No information is available for the number of cases held on the old computer system (CSCS) with outstanding debt where the non-resident parent lives abroad.
Information on the level of debt where the non-resident parent lives outside the UK is not available prior to February 2007.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Child Support
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average length of a repayment schedule agreed with the Child Support Agency is. [185877]
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 13 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 average length of a repayment schedule agreed with the Child Support Agency is. [185877]
Robust information on the length of repayments schedules is not held centrally and to obtain it would involve additional examination of all relevant cases. The information required to answer this question cannot therefore be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
The Agency has introduced tougher enforcement measures through its Operational Improvement Plan, launched in April 2006. If the Agency cannot secure immediate repayment in full from the non-resident parent, it aims to reach agreements that will see arrears paid back within two years wherever possible.
The Agency collected or arranged almost £975m in maintenance in the twelve months to December 2007, of which just under £116m was arrears. Since April 2006, the Agency has collected over £181m of arrears. The Agency aims to collect over £1bn of maintenance including arrears in 2008/9.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Children: Maintenance
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the time taken to pay child support to parents with care whose cases are being dealt with clerically and where maintenance has been paid to the agency by the non-resident parent or via his employer as a result of a deduction from earnings order; and if he will make a statement. [181254]
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 13 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 assessment he has made of the time taken to pay child support to parents with care whose cases are being dealt with clerically and where maintenance has been paid to the Agency by the non-resident parent or via his employer as a result of a deduction from earnings order; and if he will make a statement. [181254]
Child maintenance applications are processed clerically where, due to technical issues, they cannot be advanced on our computer system. Payments received in these cases are paid out normally one day later than non-clerical cases.
However, as can be the case with a manual process, there are some occasions when individual payments require additional investigation to ensure that the right money is passed to the right client.
The Agency takes steps to ensure that the allocation of receipts is strictly controlled, and that delays are kept to an absolute minimum.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of all current Child Support Agency cases have (a) been subject to maladministration, (b) had incorrect maintenance calculations and (c) arrears outstanding; and what proportion of cases are subject to (i) (a) and (b) above, (ii) (a) and (c) above, (iii) (b) and (c) above and (iv) all three conditions above. [185120]
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 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 number and proportion of all current Child Support Agency cases have (a) been subject to maladministration (b) had incorrect maintenance calculations and (c) arrears outstanding; and what proportion of cases are subject to (i) (a) and (b) above (ii) (a) and (c) above (iii) (b) and (c) above and (iv) all three conditions above. [185120]
The Agency does not record information on individual cases in such a way as to allow the analysis you have requested to be carried out. Information concerning maladministration, accuracy of maintenance calculations and outstanding arrears comes from several different information flows, therefore we cannot generate robust data concerning the proportion of cases affected by all three. The Agency can, however, provide the following information, which I hope is of use.
In 2006/07, the Agency made consolatory payments due to maladministration in 15,420 cases.
Between April 2007 and December 2007, a sample of 4,300 cases was checked for accuracy, of which 87% were found to have an assessment which was accurate to the nearest penny. Information on the accuracy of assessments is routinely published in Table 17 of the Quarterly Summary of Statistics.
As at November 2007 there were 1,220,200 current Child Support cases with an assessment or calculation. 781,900 of
these cases had debt outstanding. This equates to 64 per cent of the current caseload. Most cases accrue debt once an assessment or calculation has been carried out. The effective date of the assessment or calculation is often backdated and debt accrues from the effective date.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Departmental Data Protection
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many direct complaints from individuals his Department has received regarding the loss of personal data held by his Department. [185808]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is not recorded or collected centrally.
Departmental Internet
Mr. David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect on users of his Department’s services of the increased provision of services on the internet; and what assessment he has made of the level of IT literacy of the users of his Department’s services. [191927]
Mr. Timms: DWP offers a wide range of services online enabling a large number of our customers to access them in a time and place that is convenient to them.
We know that many of our customers have access to and regularly use the internet, and that this number is growing. We will continue to develop services which meet their needs and to engage customers in the design and delivery of future online services. Customers who do not use the internet will continue to be able to access the Department’s services in the conventional way.
Departmental Manpower
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many full-time equivalent staff were employed in the city of Dundee by his Department in each of the last 10 years. [191011]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions was formed in June 2001 bringing together the former Department of Social Security and Employment Service. Information on the number of full-time equivalent staff employed by the Department in the City of Dundee at 31 March each year following the Department's formation is in the following table. The table also includes figures as at 31 January 2008, the latest information available.
| Number of FTE( 1) | |
| (1) Figures shown in table are rounded full-time equivalents | |
Fuel Poverty: Hampshire
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of levels of fuel poverty of people claiming benefits in Hampshire in the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [178201]
Malcolm Wicks: I have been asked to reply.
Regional estimates of fuel poverty are available only for 2003 and are taken from the fuel poverty indicator dataset, available online at:
This shows that there were approximately 32,000 fuel poor households in Hampshire in 2003. A split by the number claiming benefits is not available.
Helping People into Work Strategy
Mr. David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much he expects his Department to pay to private and voluntary sector organisations to deliver services under the Helping People into Work strategy. [191926]
Mr. Timms: Our recently published “Three Year Business Plan 2008-11”, which is available in the Library, provides figures for planned expenditure on employment programmes. These figures are in the following table.
| Planned expenditure on Department for Work and Pensions employment programmes | |
| £ million | |
We anticipate that up to 70 per cent. of this expenditure will be contracted to voluntary and private sector organisations. However, as indicated within our recently published commissioning strategy, which is also available in the Library, the exact amounts are yet to be approved by Ministers.
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