The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 31 March 2008:
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, pursuant to the Answer of 5th March 2008, Official Report, column 2591 on IT projects, what is the (a) start date, (b) original planned completion date, (c) current expected completion date, (d) planned cost and (e) current estimated cost for the Child Support Agency Operational Improvement Plan, including IT elements; and if he will make a statement. [194128].
The Child Support Agency Operational Improvement Plan was announced in February 2006. The plan sets out a business recovery programme for the three years to March 2009. Key commitments to improve the performance of the Agency are supported by a programme to design, develop and implement a process of organisational change. This is underpinned by continuing remediation of existing computer systems and the introduction of further IT enhancements in preparation for the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.
The Operational Improvement Plan was funded in the main from releasing existing resource agreed as part of the 2004 spending review, supplemented by an additional £120 million new investment from within the Department. The total original planned cost of the Operational Improvement Plan was £320m and our estimated cost remains £320m. The Agency remains on track to meet its Operational Improvement Plan commitments by March 2009.
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