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 Hilary Reynolds:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. Given that he is currently on leave, I am responding on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the current backlog is of child support cases waiting to be assessed.
In March 2006, there were around 304,000 cases that had yet to receive an assessment or calculation.
Please note that this number is different from the total number of cases waiting to be cleared, which stood at 333,000 in March 2006. This is because new scheme cases are only considered cleared when they have received a calculation and have a payment schedule in place. In March 2006, there were around 29,000 new scheme cases that had received a calculation, but were awaiting a payment schedule.
Although the total volume of uncleared cases fell by 8% between January 2005 and March 2006, the Agency recognises that this remains unacceptably high. The Agency therefore has a 2006/07 target to ensure that, by March 2007, the volume of new scheme uncleared applications outstanding at March 2006 is reduced by 25%.
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(2) what the cost would be of transferring all applicants under the old child support system to the new system; and if he will make a statement.
There is no provision for applying for transfer from the old to the new child support schemes and for that reason information is not available. Legislation only allows transfer if a case has prescribed links to a new scheme application.
The cost of transfer would depend on the volume of cases transferred, which in turn will be impacted by the date of transfer. This is because old scheme cases are continuously reducing in number as a result of both natural attrition and reactive (linked case) conversion.
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 Hilary Reynolds:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. Given that he is currently on leave, I am responding on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many parents assessed under the old system of child support are still making payments to their children.
The Agency records information in terms of cases rather parents. My answer is therefore provided on this basis.
At the end of March 2006, there were 305,000 old scheme cases on the old computer system (CSCS) where a Full Maintenance Assessment had been carried out, and a positive maintenance liability had been established. Of these:
Payment was received in 152,000 cases.
A further 61,000 cases had a Maintenance Direct arrangement in place. This means that although the Agency has established the appropriate amount due, the non-resident parent will pay the parent with care directly, without the need for the Agency to collect money.
In addition, there were 86,000 old scheme cases where a Full Maintenance Assessment had been carried out, and a positive maintenance liability had been established that were operating on the new computer system (CS2). Of these:
Payment was received in 34,000 cases.
A further 9,000 cases had a Maintenance Direct arrangement in place.
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The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Mr. Stephen Geraghty. He will write to the hon. Gentleman with the information requested.
Letter from Hilary Reynolds:
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make a further statement on progress towards overcoming the computer problems at the Child Support Agency.
The new child support scheme was introduced on 3 March 2003. It has been well publicised that there has been a number of technical problems with the performance of the new computer system (CS2) from this date.
A great deal of work has been carried out over recent years to improve the stability of the new computer system (CS2) and operational performance has improved to the point where contracted service levels are now consistently being met.
We are making good progress to remedy the remaining problems with the new computer system and future IT releases are planned during 2006 and 2007 to resolve various system performance issues and build on the improvements already made. In addition there are a number of planned enhancements to the computer system that form part of the programme to implement the three-year Operational Improvement Plan.
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[holding answer 12 June 2006]: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive. He will write to my right hon. Friend with the information requested.
Letter from Hilary Reynolds:
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many non-resident parents currently receiving benefits which the Child Support Agency has a claim against, are not paying the minimum payment required under the new scheme.
The Agency records information in terms of cases rather parents. My answer is therefore provided on this basis.
In order to obtain the benefit status of non-resident parents associated with new scheme cases, it has been necessary to match data from the Agency's administrative systems with data from the benefit records system administered by Jobcentre Plus. The latter set of administrative data is published quarterly, and the latest information available is for November 2005.
At the end of November 2005, there were 70,000 new scheme cases involving a non-resident parent (NRP) in receipt of Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance or Incapacity Benefit in which maintenance was due. Of these, maintenance was not received from 38,000 cases.
It should be noted that there are also a small number of Non Resident Parents (the number of which cannot be quantified) who receive other benefits against which the Agency has a claim; namely—Retirement Pension, Pension Credit, Bereavement Allowance, Widowed Parents Allowance/Pension, Incapacity Benefit, Carer's Allowance, Severe Disablement Allowance, Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit, Maternity Allowance, War Disablement or War Widows Pension, also certain training allowances. However, it is not possible to provide information on maintenance collected from these cases.
[holding answer 12 June 2006]: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to my right hon. Friend with the information requested.
Letter from Hilary Reynolds dated 19 June 2006:
In reply to your recent parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. Given that he is currently on leave, I am responding on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Child Support Agency cases remain to be transferred from the old scheme to the new scheme.
At the end of March 2006 there were 923,000 old scheme cases. There were 600,000 cases on the old computer system (CSCS). There are 322,000 cases on the new computer system (CS2); these are cases that have been reactively migrated due to being linked to the new scheme cases.
Of those old scheme cases that had been reactively migrated from the old system to the new system, we estimate that around 41,000 cases had relevant links to the new scheme cases and have now been converted. We estimate that a further 48,000 cases also have relevant links and are currently awaiting conversion.
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[holding answer 13 June 2006]: Client address details held by mobile phone companies are classed as ‘communications data’ under the Regulations of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) and can only be disclosed to an authorised body within this legislation and in relation to a specific statutory purpose. The Child Support Agency is not a RIPA authorised body and is therefore unable to request such information.