The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Gentleman with the information requested.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 26 April 2007:
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, whether the Child Support Agency uses local authority certificated bailiffs for the collection of arrears of child support payments. [130862]
The Agency’s bailiffs are appointed by the county court, not the local authority. As such, the bailiffs used by the Agency are county court certificated, rather than local authority certificated.
Certificated bailiffs are granted a certificate by a County Court judge which allows them to levy distress for rent. To obtain a certificate, the applicant must satisfy the judge that he is a fit and proper person to hold a certificate, that he has sufficient knowledge of the law of distress, and that he is not in the business of buying debts.
Further information concerning the certification of bailiffs can be found on the Department for Constitutional Affairs website at the following address:
http://www.dca.gov.uk/enforcement/enfrev01/repac/htm.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
(2) what the target time is for the period between the issuance and execution of arrest warrants in cases of persistent failure to pay child support; and what the average time was in the last period for which figures are available.
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.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 26 April 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.
You asked the Secretary for Work and Pensions, what action he is taking to speed up execution of arrest warrants in cases of persistent failure to pay child support. [123984]
and;
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the target time is for the period between the issuance and execution of arrest warrants in cases of persistent failure to pay child support; and what the average time was in the last period for which figures are available. [124015]
The priority for execution of child support warrants is set by each Magistrates’ court who will arrange for the execution of warrants through either their own civilian enforcement officers or the Police. The Agency cannot set a target for the executions of warrants.
The Agency is working with the Office for Criminal Reform and the Department of Constitutional Affairs on an ongoing basis to improve the current time taken to execute arrest warrants.
The current management information system cannot provide the average period between the issuance and execution of warrants. As at the end of January 2007 the Agency had 278 outstanding warrants in England and Wales. The average period for which these have been outstanding is approximately 50 weeks.
I hope you find this response helpful.