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5 Mar 2010 : Column 1418W—continued
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 as the Child Support Agency is now the responsibility of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what advice is given by the Child Support Agency to people liable for maintenance payments who are (a) in arrears, (b) late in making payments and (c) behind on their payment schedules on the use of credit cards to clear their arrears. [318745]
The Child Support Agency's Debt Steer states that the starting point when negotiating an arrears payment plan is to require full repayment immediately. Where this is not possible, the aim will be to reach an agreement that will achieve full recovery within, at most two years, with the discretion to accept an arrangement extending beyond this period where a client's circumstances warrant it.
In all cases involving arrears, caseworkers are instructed to discuss payment options that could be available to the client. Caseworkers do not provide financial advice, or recommend one payment option over another. Caseworkers can also signpost clients to other, independent organisations for financial help and advice where appropriate.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases of absent parents in (a) Scotland and (b) Angus constituency the Child Support Agency is managing. [318801]
Helen Goodman: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to the hon. Member with the information requested and I have seen the response.
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 as the Child Support Agency is now the responsibility of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of absent parents in (a) Scotland and (b) Angus constituency the Child Support Agency is managing. [318801]
In December 2009, there are 112,810 live and assessed cases in Scotland and 2,170 in the parliamentary constituency of Angus. These figures include old scheme cases with a full or interim maintenance assessment as well as current scheme cases with a full maintenance calculation or default maintenance decision. Figures are adjusted to reflect those cases administered clerically.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases relating to absent parents resident in Milton Keynes the Child Support Agency is managing. [319003]
Helen Goodman: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to the hon. Member with the information requested and I have seen the response.
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 as the Child Support Agency is now the responsibility of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases relating to absent parents resident in Milton Keynes the Child Support Agency is managing. [319003]
Latest figures available show as at December 2009, the number of cases in Milton Keynes is 4,480. These figures include old scheme cases with a full maintenance assessment as well as current scheme cases with a full maintenance calculation or default maintenance decision. Figures are adjusted to reflect those cases administered clerically.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases managed by the Child Support Agency relate to absent parents in (a) Scotland and (b) Moray constituency. [319674]
Helen Goodman: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to the hon. Member with the information requested and I have seen the response.
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 as the Child Support Agency is now the responsibility of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases managed by the Child Support Agency relate to absent parents in (a) Scotland and (b) Moray constituency. [319674]
Latest figures show as at December 2009, the number of cases in Scotland is 111,050; of these 1,760 are in the Parliamentary Constituency of Moray. These figures include old scheme cases with a full or interim maintenance assessment as well as current
scheme cases with a full maintenance calculation or default maintenance decision. Figures are adjusted to reflect those cases administered clerically.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Council Tax Benefits
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what measures introduced by her Department since May 2005 have made it easier for (a) pensioners and (b) low income earners to claim council tax benefit. [319609]
Helen Goodman: Council tax benefit provides financial assistance with payment of council tax bills to people on low income and plays an important role in helping to combat pensioner and child poverty. Modernising and simplifying the claims process is a key part of the Department's strategy to increase benefit take-up among both pensioners and people of working age. We are also introducing a range of measures to improve awareness among staff, customers and advisers of the help that council tax benefit can give to people both in and out of work.
The main focus of activity to help poorer pensioners has been the automation of the claims process. In December 2005 a shortened, three page claim form was introduced for housing benefit and council tax benefit replacing a claim form that ran to 28 pages. Completion of the form was undertaken on behalf of the customer by officials in the Pension, Disability and Carers Service at the same time as a claim to pension credit was made over the telephone. The form was then sent to the customer to check and sign and return to the local authority.
From November 2008, the need for the customer to complete and sign a claim form was removed and housing benefit and council tax benefit claims data have been sent direct to the local authority.
This automated claims process has been further enhanced and since January 2010, all local authorities are able to receive secure electronic transfer of data making the claiming process virtually automatic for all pensioner customers.
Jobcentre Plus has successfully rolled out a new process which makes claiming benefits, including council tax benefit, easier and faster for people moving into and out of employment. The in and out of work process involves Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and local authorities, working with Jobcentre Plus to smooth the transition for customers moving in and out of work reducing the number of organisations the customer has to contact at the point they make a new claim or when they start work. Jobcentre Plus gathers all the information and evidence that is needed for housing benefit, council tax benefit and tax credits improving the speed and accuracy of information sharing so that the right benefit is paid more quickly.
The Department continues to explore ways to make the claiming process more automatic through wider use of data sharing and also by data matching to assist local authorities to identify customers with potential entitlement. It will continue to look for service improvements on offer to pensioners for example by partnership working with local authorities and other agencies and signposting to the most appropriate contact point too pursue a benefit claim.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many full-time equivalent staff there have been in her Department's (a) Fraud Investigation Service and (b) Organised Fraud Unit in each year since 2006. [316364]
Jonathan Shaw: The available information is in the table (data are not available prior to 2007):
| Numbers of full-time equivalent staff in Fraud Investigation Service and Organised Fraud Unit since 2007 | ||
| Date | Total number of Fraud Investigation staff (excluding Organised Fraud Unit staff) | Total number of Organised Fraud Unit staff |
The decrease in the total number of Fraud Investigation Service staff needs to be seen against the pre-recession spending review efficiency challenge. There have been significant productivity gains and elimination of waste that have seen record numbers of benefit thieves caught and sanctioned. The numbers in the Organised Fraud Unit are a reflection of our commitment to tackle the serious and organised fraudsters who abuse the benefits system.
Departmental Written Questions
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many questions tabled for answer on a named day her Department received in each of the last 12 months; and to how many such questions her Department provided a substantive answer on the day named. [305384]
Helen Goodman: The information requested is in the following table:
| Named day questions by month tabled | |||||||||||
| 2009 | |||||||||||
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of parliamentary questions tabled for written answer by her Department on a named day in session 2008-09 received a substantive answer on that day. [307546]
Helen Goodman: The Department answered 829 named day questions in session 2008-09, of which 252 (30.4 per cent.) received a substantive reply on the named day.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what average time her Department took to answer questions for (a) ordinary written answer and (b) written answer on a named day in the last 12 months. [313648]
Helen Goodman: In the 12 months to 31 January 2010 the average time taken by the Department to answer (a) ordinary written questions was 14.0 sitting days and (b) named day questions was 8.9 sitting days.
With effect from the current Session of Parliament, each Department will provide the Procedure Committee with sessional statistics on the time taken to answer written questions. This implements recommendation 24 of the 3rd report from the Procedure Committee, Session 2008-09
Housing Benefit
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of claimants of local housing allowance make an additional payment to cover the difference between benefit received and rent paid; and what estimate she has made of the average weekly payment made by such claimants in the latest period for which figures are available. [318637]
Helen Goodman: In August 2009, 48 per cent. of customers who received housing benefit under the local housing allowance arrangements had a shortfall of £23 per week on average. This relates to shortfalls caused by a customer's contractual rent being higher than the appropriate local housing allowance rate.
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of those in receipt of housing benefit in the private rented sector, excluding those in receipt of local housing allowance, have their benefit paid to (a) their landlord and (b) themselves. [318813]
Helen Goodman: The information is not available in the format requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of those in receipt of local housing allowance have their benefit paid to (a) their landlord and (b) themselves. [318815]
Helen Goodman:
The local housing allowance, rolled out from 7 April 2008, uses the appropriate local housing allowance rate, based on the area where the person lives and the size of their household, to determine the maximum amount to be included in the housing benefit calculation. Customers can choose to rent properties with rents
below the local housing allowance rate and are able to keep the excess benefit up to a maximum of £15 per week. If the rent is higher than the local housing allowance rate they must make up the difference from other sources of income.
In August 2009, 25 per cent of customers who received housing benefit under the local housing allowance arrangements had their benefit paid to their landlord and 72 per cent had their benefit paid to themselves. For 3 per cent. of customers the payment destination information is not reliably reported.
Mortgages: Government Assistance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by her Department on the Support for Mortgage Interest Scheme in (a) each of the last three years and (b) 2009-10 to date. [316745]
Helen Goodman: Annual expenditure on the Support for Mortgage Interest scheme in the last three years was as follows:
| £ million | |
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