(2) if he will make a statement on plans to reduce Child Support Agency (CSA) staff numbers; and whether such plans will be affected by CSA performance against targets.
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 Stephen Geraghty, dated 21 June 2007:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions regarding 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 staff were employed by the Child Support Agency in each quarter since January 1997; what the estimated numbers are for each quarter until 2012; [141934]
and
If he will make a statement on plans to reduce Child Support Agency (CSA) staff numbers; and whether such plans will be affected by CSA Performance against targets. [141935]
Such information as is available is in the attached table. However, we cannot currently provide anticipated people numbers beyond March 2008 as staffing profiles have yet to be agreed across the Department.
I have provided the average people employed for each financial year from 1997/98 through to 2000/01, as we no longer retain information on a quarterly basis for this period. The information provided is sourced from the Agency Annual Report and Accounts and is set out in the attached Table 1.
The Agency is committed to meeting both the Departmentally agreed headcount target of 9547 by March 2008 and the Secretary of State performance targets for the coming year.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Financial year Average number of people employed 1997-98 8,445 1998-99 8,156 1999-2000 8,545 2000-01 9,187 Note: Quarterly information is not available for this period. Source: Agency Annual Reports and Accounts.
Quarter ending Number of full-time equivalent people 2001 June 10,071.14 September 10,140.98 December 10,425.26 2002 March 10,690.59 June 10,920.45 September 11,166.36 December 11,202.70 2003 March 11,256.42 June 10,987.77 September 10,696.30 December 10,527.76 2004 March 10,819.02 June 10,671.76 September 10,076.78 December 9,809.96 2005 March 9,784.26 June 9,827.08 September 10,076.55 December 10,648.83 2006 March 11,034.25 June 11,279.85 September 11,416.45 December 11,497.57 2007 March 11,225.04 June *10,982 September *10,615 December *10,238 2008 March *9,547 Notes: 1. Actuals—for June 2001 to March 2007. 2. Projected—from September 2007 to March 2008.