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12 Jan 2009 : Column 36W—continued
Maintenance
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many new cases have been brought to the Child Support Agency in the last 12 months; and how many of these cases the CSA has started maintenance payments. [243467]
Kitty Ussher [holding answer 15 December 2008]: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have therefore asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to 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 Child Maintenance Commissioner.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many new cases were brought to the Child Support Agency
(CSA) in the last 12 months; and in how many of these cases the CSA has started maintenance payments. [243467]
The information requested is provided in the attached table and is routinely published in tables 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 of the Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics. The latest version is available in the House of Commons library or online at the following link:
It should be noted that in July 2008 compulsion to use the Agency was lifted for all new parents with care claiming income based benefits. Prior to this a proportion of new applications received from Jobcentre Plus were in fact change of circumstances to existing cases or are actually closed prior to a maintenance schedule being set up. These applications are included in the attached table.
As there can be a delay between the time an application has been assessed, and maintenance requested and the receipt of the first payment of maintenance a larger proportion of applications made in recent months will therefore not yet have started payment. The number of applications resulting in a payment for recent months will therefore increase over time, and these figures will be revised in future versions of the Quarterly Summary of Statistics.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
| Number of current scheme applications cleared each month and the number of those that have resulted in a maintenance payment being made | |||||
| Month | Applications cleared | Maintenance due( 8) | Percentage | Payment received | Percentage |
| Notes: 1. Applications for the period include all applications from potential non-resident parents or parents with care as well as, for the period to 14 July 2008 all applications from Jobcentre Plus when a parent with care applies for benefits and their details are sent directly to the Agency. Many of these applications are in fact a change of circumstance on an existing case or are closed prior to a maintenance schedule being set up. 2. Applications resulting in a payment include cases both where a payment has been made through the Agency and where a maintenance direct agreement has been arranged between a non resident parent and parent with care. 3. This table consists of information already published in tables 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 of the Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics. 4. From 14 July 2008, new benefit claimants were no longer compelled to use the Child Support Agency. This has resulted in a reduction in the number of applications and potential applications received from Jobcentre Plus and therefore the number of clearances. 5. A significant proportion of applications cleared and which have progressed to payments stage in August and September 2008 will not yet have received the first payment, the number of cases cleared in these months that subsequently receive payment will rise. 6. The figures in this table are a snapshot of the status of cases at the end of September 2008 and are therefore subject to revision. 7. This table counts applications for Child Support. Not all applications become live cases. Information on the number of cases that are progressed clerically is not included in this table. 8. Refers to cases assessed as initially having a positive maintenance liability, which also progress to payment stage, including Maintenance Direct Cases. It does not include cases initially assessed with a positive maintenance liability which are subsequently closed or reassessed as not having a maintenance liability. | |||||
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission plans to take to speed up the enforcement process, with particular reference to non-compliant self-employed non-resident parents. [243883]
Kitty Ussher: The administration of the child maintenance system is a matter for the Commissioner of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Committee plans to take to speed up the enforcement process, with particular reference to non-compliant self-employed non-resident parents. [243883]
The Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008 will provide the Commission with tools to establish reliable collection as quickly as possible and enable it to streamline the enforcement process and take action at the earliest opportunity.
The Commission will be able to make deduction orders to administratively remove funds from bank accounts, either periodically or in a lump sum, without going to court. Deduction orders can be used in cases where a deduction from earnings order (currently the most important enforcement tool used by the Commission) cannot, for example because the non-resident parent is self-employed.
The requirement to apply to the courts for a liability order before taking enforcement action will be removed and replaced
with an administrative process; and the procedure for registering liability orders in the county court will be rationalised enabling swifter more effective enforcement action to be taken.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Mental Health Services
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the recommendations relevant to his Department’s policy responsibilities made in the Foresight report on Mental Capacity and Well-Being, with particular reference to the costs to the benefits system of those with mental ill-health; and if he will make a statement. [244028]
Jonathan Shaw: In general, the Foresight report provided helpful reassurance that scientific evidence supports the welfare reforms the Government are and will be making. More specifically, as chapter 8 sets out, its findings fed into Professor Dame Carol Black’s review of the health of the working population of Britain. The Government have accepted her recommendations and will be developing the first ever cross-Government national strategy for mental health and employment, which will help us improve work outcomes for people with mental health problems across the spectrum. This will incidentally contribute to benefit savings as well as their health and wellbeing.
National Insurance: Fraud
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of national insurance numbers which were used for fraudulent purposes in each of the last five years. [242172]
Mr. McNulty: The national insurance number (NINO) is a unique personal reference number used for tax, national insurance contributions, social security benefits, state pension, tax credit and student loan award purposes. The number links an individual with their tax payments and national insurance contributions to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions, and is needed to make a claim to benefit. Estimates of NINOs used fraudulently for all of these purposes are not available.
DWP has robust checks in place to prevent NINOs being used fraudulently within the benefit system. Where DWP identifies that a NINO has been used for attempted benefit fraud or where DWP is aware that a NINO may be vulnerable to fraudulent use, the relevant NINO record is annotated accordingly. Any subsequent benefit claim using that NINO would automatically be subjected to close scrutiny, and if appropriate, referral to DWP’s Fraud Investigation Service.
The number of NINO accounts annotated for these reasons over the last five years is in the following table.
| Number of marked accounts | |
New Deal Schemes
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what modelling his Department has conducted on economic and labour market conditions in assessing the (a) funding and (b) anticipated employment outcome of the flexible new deal contracts; and if he will make a statement. [244047]
Mr. McNulty: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave her on 26 November 2008, Official Report, 2006W.
Pathways to Work
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much he plans to spend on the pathways to work programme in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11. [243476]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 15 December 2008]: The Department for Work and Pensions has allocated around £1 billion in the pathways to work programme between 2008 and 2011. A breakdown of planned expenditure is in the table.
| Pathways to Work planned expenditure | |
| £ million | |
| Notes: 1. Figures provided for 2008-09 are budgeted allocations based on invitations to tender. Actual spend will be reported in due course. 2. Figures provided for 2009-10 and 2010-11 are indicative allocations based on current assumptions and are subject to change. | |
Pathways to Work: Disabled
Mrs. Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what provisions are in place for incapacity benefit and employment support allowance claimants participating in pathways to work to access specialist disability employment services. [244043]
Mr. McNulty: Jobcentre Plus offers support to incapacity benefit and employment and support allowance customers participating in pathways to work to access specialist disability employment services through the advice and guidance provided by specialist incapacity benefit and employment and support allowance advisers, disability employment advisers in Jobcentre Plus offices and the provider in provider-led pathways to work districts.
These advisers provide support advice and guidance about what services are available, and suitable, for customers and how they can access them.
Pension Credit
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether restitution payments made to holocaust survivors are disregarded for the purposes of calculating entitlement to pension credit. [244953]
Ms Rosie Winterton
[holding answer 18 December 2008]: Lump sum payments made to compensate those who were slave labourers, forced labourers or suffered
personal injuries or property loss during World War II are fully disregarded when calculating entitlement to pension credit.
In addition payments made to parents whose child died during the Second World War are fully disregarded when calculating entitlement to pension credit.
Social security pensions paid by the German or Austrian Government are fully taken into account. However pensions paid under special provisions by the German or Austrian Government to victims of National Socialist persecution are taken into account subject to a £10 disregard when calculating entitlement to pension credit.
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