Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what record is made of (a) whom and (b) which Department has supplied information during the assessment of (i) Child Support Agency and (ii) Child Maintenance Service payments.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The initial Child maintenance calculation is based on gross annual income from HMRC, benefit information from CIS, the number of qualifying children, number of relevant other child/ren (ROCs), number of children in family based arrangements (CIFBA), variation information and shared care from the applicant. This can be supplemented by addition information from the applicant and from local authorities. This information is routinely recorded in the Child Maintenance systems, but could only be sourced by examining individual cases
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the procedure in the Child Support Agency is to report alleged benefit fraud to her Department.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The CMG instructions to caseworkers are whenever a Child Maintenance Group (CMG) employee suspects a paying parent, receiving parent, third party or employer of criminal activity they may send a referral to the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) or enforcement. Suspected benefit fraud would be reported to FIU who will then contact DWP via fraud referral.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the March 2017 report of the NAO entitled Child maintenance: closing cases and managing arrears on the 1993 and 2003 schemes, HC 1054, what assessment is made of the implications for the level of Child Maintenance Service payments of the (a) war pension and (b) other legacy benefits that a person claims.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In the referenced report the NAO presented findings regarding the progress of the Child Support Agency case closure programme and the manner in which arrears accrued under the Child Support Agency were being managed at that time. No assessment of the type described has been carried out as it relates solely to the Child Maintenance Service, and not to the Child Support Agency which was the focus of the NAO report
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-disclosure agreements the Child Support Agency has entered into in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
CSA/ CMG comply with the government’s policy on using confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements and it would seek approval from a minister and the Government Legal Service before doing so. We have no records of entering into any non-disclousre agreements in the last 10 years.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how long records of conversations relating to the (a) Child Support Agency and (b) Child Maintenance Service by phone or email with employers are kept.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Child Maintenance Service is compliant with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Records of telephone conversations are deleted 14 months after the date of the telephone conversation. Email records are retained for the life of a case, and for 14 months after a case has been closed. Records are automatically deleted after this point.
The Child Support Agency is also compliant with GDPR in respect of telephone conversations and the same approach is taken to these as with the Child Maintenance Service, with automatic deletion of records 14 months after the date of the telephone conversation. Email records are not automatically deleted, and therefore manual action is taken to periodically remove these once they are no longer required for case-related activity.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department plans to respond to the National Audit Office report entitled Child maintenance: closing cases and managing arrears on the 1993 and 2003 schemes published 28 March 2017; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We gave consideration to key findings of the National Audit Office report – Child maintenance closing cases and managing arrears on the 1993 and 2003 schemes when developing our Child Maintenance Compliance and Arrears strategy – which was published on 12 July 2018. The NAO report helped inform our approach for how we should address historic arrears that accrued under the Child Support Agency Scheme. There are no other plans to respond directly to this report.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) inaccurate maintenance assessments and (b) incorrect maintenance adjustments were made to Child Support Agency schemes in (i) 1993 and (ii) 2003; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much in cash terms is owed in Child Support Agency schemes arrears.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
£3,506 million is owned in cash terms in Child Support Agency scheme arrears. This is all arrears including Child Support Agency arrears that have already been transitioned to the Child Maintenance Service.
This figure is published as part of the ‘1993 and 2003 Child Maintenance Schemes – Client Funds Account 2017/18’ which can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/child-maintenance-client-funds-accounts
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how long her Department keeps its recordings of telephone conversations.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Telephone call recordings are retained for as long as there is a business requirement, this varies depending on the nature of the call.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much in cash terms has been written off in Child Support Agency schemes arrears in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As write off of Child Support Agency schemes arrears began in April 2012, there is not yet 10 years of data available.
Between April 2012 and March 2013 £1,133,000 was written off in Child Support Agency arrears.
The amount written off in Child Support Agency arrears has been published for each year since April 2013 - March 2014 as part of the Child Maintenance: Client Fund Accounts which can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/child-maintenance-client-funds-accounts