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6 Oct 2008 : Column 52W—continued
Television
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department spent on (a) commissioning and (b) funding the production of television programmes (i) in each of the last three years and (ii) in 2008-09 to date; what programmes these were; and which companies made them. [213498]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 24 June 2008]: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has not commissioned or funded the production of any television programmes in the last three years, or in 2008-09 to date.
Tourism: Ethnic Groups
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make it his policy to encourage people from ethnic minorities to visit the countryside. [218166]
Mr. Sutcliffe: DCMS provides grant in aid to VisitBritain to promote England to the British and Britain to the rest of the world, their Rural Escapes campaign has run for two years and is aimed at attracting all sections of society to rural locations in England and has involved print, website and broadcast advertising.
VisitBritain's international inbound tourism strategy involved a campaign around Bollywood film locations aimed specifically at the Indian market. The imagery used by Britain on View, VisitBritain and enjoyEngland, is designed to reflect the fact that visitors from all ethnic backgrounds are to be encouraged to visit rural and urban destinations within the UK.
World Heritage Sites
Mrs. Riordan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the selection process for UNESCO World Heritage Sites; and if he will make a statement. [219053]
Margaret Hodge: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave her on 7 July 2008, Official Report, column 1211W.
Work and Pensions
Armed Forces
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what specific provisions are provided by his Department for (a) the families of service personnel and (b) the families of service personnel on operations. [222071]
Mr. Plaskitt:
The Service Personnel Command Paper The Nation’s Commitment: Cross-Government Support to our Armed Forces, their Families and Veterans (Cm 7424), published on 17 July, sets out the first ever cross-Government strategy for support to our service personnel, their families and veterans. The strategy will ensure that service personnel and their families are not
disadvantaged when seeking access to state benefits and gives improved access to employment programmes, such as new deal.
The families of service personnel already have access to the full range of benefits and services in the same way as those of non-service personnel. There are also provisions targeted specifically at family members who are accompanying service personnel overseas on operations.
For example, family members who are temporarily absent from Great Britain because they live with a serving member of the forces as part of a family are not disqualified from receiving incapacity benefit, disability living allowance, attendance allowance or carer’s allowance. This will also apply to the employment and support allowance from October 2008. Partners of current or former armed forces personnel can also have fast-track access to the Gateway stage of the new deal for young people and new deal 25+ and, from April 2009, to Stage 3 of the revised jobseeker’s allowance programme.
Some spouses and civil partners who accompany their family overseas occasionally find it hard to get paid employment while there. This may adversely affect their national insurance contribution record for entitlement to a State Pension as well as access to contribution based working age benefits. A Ministerial commitment was included in the Command Paper to consider the award of National Insurance credits in these circumstances.
Child Support
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in how many cases of child support administration the computer system has been incapable of producing a result and the case transferred to manual management in each of the last three years. [222024]
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.
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, in how many cases of child support administration the computer system has been incapable of producing a result and the case transferred to manual management in each of the last three years. [222024]
The information requested is routinely published in Table 20 of the Child Support Agency’s Quarterly Summary Statistics and further information on clerical cases is set out in the accompanying notes to the table. The latest copy is available in the House of Commons Library or via the internet at: www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/csa.asp.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Bill Etherington: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment has been made of the financial effects on parents without care facing debt recovery action for outstanding child maintenance payments by the Child Support Agency of the sanction of (a) 40 per cent. deductions on net income and (b) use of debt recovery agents. [223863]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the chief executive. He will write to my hon. Friend with the information requested.
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 has been made of the financial impact on parents without care facing debt recovery action for outstanding child maintenance payments by the Child Support Agency of the sanction (a) 40 per cent. deductions on net income and (b) use of debt recovery agents. [223863]
The financial impact of recovering child maintenance debt is considered for all parties involved in a child maintenance calculation before determining a suitable repayment level. The circumstances of each individual case are considered including any representations of hardship from the non-resident parent as well as the size of the debt and any other relevant factors. Should the financial circumstances of the non-resident parent prevent immediate full repayment of the child maintenance debt then the Agency will attempt to negotiate the repayment of the child maintenance debt as quickly as possible to obtain the best possible outcome for the qualifying child and the parent with care while taking account of the circumstances of the non-resident parent.
As a guideline the Agency’s view is that a complete recovery period of up to two years is broadly acceptable if all the circumstances of the case genuinely warrant such a lengthy period; as an organisation with a statutory duty to consider the welfare of any children affected by our decisions, the Agency can only justify accepting repayment agreements of more than two years in special circumstances. In a proportion of cases, this means that a repayment agreement of up to forty per cent of net earnings, which includes any regular maintenance liability and repayment of arrears, will be appropriate.
Where negotiations fail to produce an acceptable repayment offer the Agency will consider recovery through the enforcement measures available. In many cases a Deduction from Earnings Order will be imposed which requires an employer to deduct child maintenance payments at source. These deductions will not exceed forty per cent of net earnings. In cases where this is not appropriate, the Agency can apply to the courts for a liability order confirming the debt, and allowing it to pursue other legal enforcement action.
The Agency also has the power to contract debt collection agencies to recover outstanding debt on its behalf as this is an area where the expertise of private agencies can be particularly effective in helping to get more money to more children. The provisions authorising another person/organisation to carry out functions relating to child support came into force on 3 July 2006. Certain cases with outstanding debt were reviewed and where the non-resident parent failed to make an acceptable repayment offer referral was made to a debt collection agency. The process for considering the financial impact of recovering debt mirrors that used within the Child Support Agency and outlined above. There are mechanisms in place to ensure that cases are correctly handled.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Child Support Agency new scheme cases have been uncleared within six months in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since 1997. [223906]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the chief executive. He will write to my hon. Friend with the information requested.
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 Child Support Agency new scheme cases have been uncleared within six months in (a) Jarrow constituency (b) South Tyneside (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since 1997. [223906]
The information you have requested is provided in the attached table which highlights the significant improvements the Agency has made to client service under its three year Operational Improvement Plan.
In addition to the overall reduction in uncleared cases, the Agency now clears 81% of all new applications within 12 weeks, already meeting the March 2009 Secretary of State target to clear 80% of cases in 12 weeks.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
| Current scheme uncleared applications over six months old | ||||
| Uncleared applications over six months old | ||||
| Month | Great Britain | North East | South Tyneside | Jarrow |
| ‘—’ Indicates a figure less than 50. Notes: 1. Figures include all uncleared applications over six months old. 2. As the current scheme came into existence in 2003, figures only go back to this date. 3. Cases have been allocated to the North East region, Jarrow Parliamentary Constituency and South Tyneside Local Authority by matching the postcode of the parent with care against the Office for National Statistics postcode directory. 4. Many uncleared applications will not have reached the point where the address details of the non-resident parent or parent with care have been recorded on the CS2 or CSCS computer systems and so can not be allocated to a geographical area. Such applications have been included under the Great Britain figure but are excluded from the regional breakdowns. Approximately 5,600 applications (9 per cent. of all uncleared applications) over six months old fall into this category. 5. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. | ||||
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases relating to residents of (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK the Child Support Agency has dealt with in each year since 1997. [223962]
Mr. Plaskitt: I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 10 September 2008, Official Report, column 1945W.
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Child Support Agency case closures there were in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since 1997. [223986]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is not available.
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many new scheme cases were cleared by the Child Support Agency within six months in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since 1997. [223988]
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 :
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 new scheme cases were cleared by the Child Support Agency within six months in (a) Jarrow constituency (b) South Tyneside (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since 1997. [223988]
At present, the Agency operates two schemes, the original scheme applying to cases received by the Agency from 1993, and assessed under the Child Support Act 1991, and the current scheme, sometimes known as the new scheme, applying to cases received by the Agency from 2003 and assessed under the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000.
The information provided in the attached table relates to current scheme cases from 2003 only.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
| Child Support Agency—Current scheme case clearances under six months old | ||||
| Clearances under six months old | ||||
| Month | Great Britain | North East | South Tyneside | Jarrow |
| Notes: 1. Figures include all current scheme application clearances under six months old. 2. As the current scheme came into existence in 2003, figures only go back to this date. 3. Cases have been allocated to the North East region, Jarrow parliamentary constituency and South Tyneside local authority by matching the postcode of the parent with care against the Office for National Statistics postcode directory. 4. Applications may be classed as cleared when the application is rejected or withdrawn. These applications can be rejected or withdrawn without the full address details of the non-resident parent or parent with care being recorded on the CS2 or CSCS computer systems and so can not be allocated to a geographical area. Such clearances are included in the Great Britain total but excluded from the regional breakdowns. Over 35 per cent. of clearances of applications under six months old fall into this category. 5. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. 6. '-' indicates a figure less than 50. | ||||
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