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:
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what amount of Child Support Agency arrears has been collected directly from non-resident parents’ assets in each year since 1996-97; and if he will make a statement.
When enforcing the collection of child support arrears, all appropriate means of civil debt recovery proceedings will be considered to ensure effective, timely and efficient recovery of outstanding debt.
The attached table outlines what payments have been received directly by non-resident parents’ assets in England & Wales and Scotland.
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£ Payments received by process 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 England and Wales Bailiff 2,966,000 5,249,000 6,987,000 Order for recovery 90,000 120,000 101,000 Charging order/order for sale 1,027,000 1,493,000 2,357,000 Third party debt order 430,000 508,000 588,000 Scotland Attachment and exceptional attachment 26,000 54,000 118,000 Inhibition 72,000 306,000 242,000 Arrestment 28,000 53,000 147,000 Total 4,639,000 7,783,000 10,540,000 Notes: 1. Due to the implementation of a new management information system in 2003 the information requested is available only from 2004-05. The table details the amounts recovered by the various enforcement tools available to the agency. 2. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.
From October 2008 we will have established an Information and Support Service where both parents can easily access free information and guidance in relation to child maintenance. To inform the design of this service we are actively engaging with voluntary sector organisations that have expertise in this area. The Department is also in the process of undertaking an assessment of the market capacity to deliver an information service from 2008 onwards. This assessment is necessary to inform our decision making regarding how the services can be most effectively delivered. We will not begin our procurement processes until this assessment is complete which we envisage will be late autumn 2007.