The agency’s performance has improved significantly since the operational improvement plan was launched in April 2006.
In simple terms, thanks to the plan, so far, 80,000 more children are being supported by an extra £140 million of payments. The number of uncleared cases is falling steadily and processing times are speeding up.
Several of my constituents are on the old CSA system and fear that they are consequently worse off. What advice can my hon. Friend give my constituents? In what time frame can they expect to be moved off the old system?
We all have a sense of frustration about the timing, and about the difficulties that the existence of two schemes running side by side creates. However, as we have always said, transfer from one to the other could not be undertaken safely or have any chance of being completed until the IT system was up to scratch. That is where the big problem lies. My hon. Friend knows that, as part of the operational improvement programme, major investment is now being made in IT and that there will be a major re-engineering at Easter. From next year, as we move to the new commission arrangement, parents will be able to choose whether to have a private arrangement, stick with an existing scheme that works or move into the new system. After that, we can migrate everyone to one unified system.
The Under-Secretary may know that I held an Adjournment debate as long ago as 24 July last year on the CSA constituency case of Mrs. Sonia Poulton. I do not know how he can stand at the Dispatch Box and say that the agency’s performance is getting better. I have corresponded with him since the Adjournment debate, to which the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the hon. Member for Stirling (Mrs. McGuire) replied. I tabled a pursuant question for answer on 17 January, and it has not been answered—
Order. Another Adjournment debate might be in order.
I said that the CSA was performing better; I did not say that it had reached a state of perfection. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will acknowledge that the fact that 80,000 more children are being supported, that £140 million more is being collected in maintenance, that the number of uncleared cases is down by 45 per cent. since the plan started and that the agency is now clearing 50 per cent. of cases within six weeks is all improvement. I fully accept that there are still problems with some cases, and I will look into the constituency case that he raises. I will consult colleagues who have dealt with the correspondence and come back to him.
I welcome the improvements in the operational improvement plan that my hon. Friend outlined. He mentioned the computer upgrade, which is due at Easter and upon which a great deal depends. Will he meet me to discuss how staff such as those at the Plymouth office can be encouraged in the work that they are doing, despite the uncertainty that the future holds for them, so that he can continue to make such announcements at the Dispatch Box in future?
My hon. Friend will know that I have visited the Plymouth office, where I discussed with the staff both the agency’s current performance and the move to the new commission arrangement. I am pleased to report that the staff are behind the work that the Department is doing and fully support the move to the commission. In so far as they have any reservations about their status, which they raised when I visited, we have been able to resolve them by telling the staff that they will remain Crown employees. The staff fully support the changes that we are making, because they want to be part of a child maintenance arrangement that works.
The abolition of pension contribution limits means that children are suffering, as huge pension contributions are now allowable deductions from income assessed for child support. A mother from your hometown, Mr. Speaker, has called this “a loophole that can be exploited by parents lining their own pockets, rather than paying for their responsibilities.” Her MP, the hon. Member for East Renfrewshire (Mr. Murphy), has called this clearly unfair. Does the Minister agree, and will he ensure that the law is changed?
As I have already pointed out, despite such issues, the agency is collecting £140 million more in child support than it was before, on behalf of 80,000 more children. The hon. Gentleman knows that when the commission takes over later this year, there will be an opportunity to review other aspects of the agency’s arrangements—he and I have debated the issue in Committee, and he knows that to be the case. The important thing is to ensure that we build a platform of success within the existing agency for when the commission takes over. It will then have the opportunity to review all the arrangements covering the current maintenance systems.
I congratulate the Minister on the improvements he has announced today. Will he indicate—if not now, in a note in the Library—how many children have to wait six months and how many have to wait more than 12 months before the first of their often irregular maintenance payments arrives?
I can certainly supply my right hon. Friend with that information. He is right that there are unacceptable waits in some cases—after all, 38 per cent. of non-resident parents are failing to pay part or all of their maintenance assessment. That is clearly not acceptable, but we are dealing with people who will sometimes go to the most extraordinary lengths to avoid facing up to their clear responsibility, and the agency cannot always do all that it would like in going after them. However, in addition to the improvements to which I have referred, the agency is now taking a record level of enforcement action to go after the non-resident parents who will not pay, with record numbers of charging orders, suspended committal sentences, removals of driving licences and deduction from earnings orders, as well as doing more than ever before to collect arrears.