Asked by: Anne Begg (Labour - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy, in respect of past interim maintenance assessments, that only that proportion of resultant child maintenance arrears which is deemed to be collectable will be transferred to the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Steve Webb
The Department is currently defining its detailed policy and processes for validating historic arrears, including those accrued from an Interim Maintenance Assessments (IMA). The intention is that IMA debt will be addressed in order to reduce the amount that will be managed by the Child Maintenance Service. Our detailed approach is under consideration.
Asked by: Anne Begg (Labour - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's 2013 Impact Assessment No. DWP0031, if he will provide a detailed breakdown of the (a) £123 million estimated cost of caseworker activity related to Child Support Agency (CSA) case arrears as part of the CSA case closure programme and (b) £20 million estimated cost of setting up areas on the Child Maintenance Service System; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Webb
The impact assessment (para 93) included high level estimates of (a) the costs (around £103m) of caseworker activity to review and update estimates of arrears on the existing systems for the circa 1.2m cases expected to have arrears when CSA liability ends and (b) the costs (around £20m) to set up arrears on the new child maintenance system. These estimates were based on broad assumptions about the volume and timings of relevant activities and before the detailed business processes and IT involved had been designed or developed.
Asked by: Anne Begg (Labour - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to examine the arrears balances of individual Child Support Agency cases subject to case closure to re-value arrears arising from interim maintenance assessment.
Answered by Steve Webb
Under current plans for ending liability in 1993 and 2003 scheme cases, the Department will validate all CSA arrears, including arrears accrued from Interim Maintenance Assessments and those which have been suspended. The approach was set out in both “Preparing for the future, tackling the past: Child Maintenance – Arrears and Compliance Strategy 2012-2017 and Command Paper Cm8399 “Supporting separated families; securing children’s futures”. The validation process will include caseworkers resolving discrepancies on cases and completing outstanding tasks.
Asked by: Anne Begg (Labour - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the arrears validation element of the Child Support Agency case closure programme, by what processes will the Agency review cases where arrears recovery had been temporarily suspended, to ascertain whether the reasons for temporary suspension remain valid.
Answered by Steve Webb
Under current plans for ending liability in 1993 and 2003 scheme cases, the Department will validate all CSA arrears, including arrears accrued from Interim Maintenance Assessments and those which have been suspended. The approach was set out in both “Preparing for the future, tackling the past: Child Maintenance – Arrears and Compliance Strategy 2012-2017 and Command Paper Cm8399 “Supporting separated families; securing children’s futures”. The validation process will include caseworkers resolving discrepancies on cases and completing outstanding tasks.
Asked by: Anne Begg (Labour - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what arrangements are in place to ensure that parents with care responsibilities whose Child Support Agency (CSA) cases are subject to case closure and who are owed child maintenance arrears are fully informed about (a) the process and likely timescale of the arrears validation process, (b) the reasoning and calculations behind the finalised arrears balance figure they receive and (c) the options open to them regarding the collection of the finalised CSA debt following the closure of their case.
Answered by Steve Webb
All letters sent to parents regarding the end of their CSA arrangement, make clear that arrears remain due or owed, even after liability ends.
After arrears have been validated, parents are advised, in writing, of the balance. The parent with care can speak to the CSA if they want to discuss how the figure has been arrived at in further detail. We cannot advise parents of the exact length or detail of the validation process, as it will depend on the circumstances of individual cases.
Both parties are advised to contact Child Maintenance Options for further information about the collection of their arrears. However, after validation, parents with care will be asked whether or not they wish their arrears to be collected.
Asked by: Anne Begg (Labour - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people for whom the freezing of the savings element of pensions credit and increases in the basic state pension has had a net negative effect on their income in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Steve Webb
The overall impact of benefit up-rating on a customer’s income depends on a wide variety of factors (including for example any changes to their non state pensions that occur around the same time) which means we cannot accurately measure these impacts. However, the increases in the basic State Pension under the terms of the triple lock, have been more significant than the reductions in the savings credit. Overall it is unlikely that any Pension Credit customer should be worse off, in cash terms, as a result of the uprating decisions made over the last three years.
Asked by: Anne Begg (Labour - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people in receipt of pension credit whose income from their state pension and pension credit was (a) less in the 2014-15 financial year than it was in the previous financial year, and (b) less in the 2013-14 financial year than it was in the 2012-13 financial year.
Answered by Steve Webb
The overall impact of benefit up-rating on a customer’s income depends on a wide variety of factors (including for example any changes to their non state pensions that occur around the same time) which means we cannot accurately measure these impacts. However, the increases in the basic State Pension under the terms of the triple lock, have been more significant than the reductions in the savings credit. Overall it is unlikely that any Pension Credit customer should be worse off, in cash terms, as a result of the uprating decisions made over the last three years.
Asked by: Anne Begg (Labour - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's consultation, child maintenance: closing cases in Segments 3 and 4 simultaneously, published on 27 October 2014, what effect such simultaneous closure will have on (a) forecast volumes and the cost of calls demands to the Child Maintenance Options Service, (b) forecast volumes and cost of recruitment and training of new staff for the Child Maintenance Options Service and (c) forecast staff numbers and costs associated with the validation of child maintenance arrears in closed cases in the year from April 2015.
Answered by Steve Webb
Child Maintenance Group is still considering the precise number of case closure letters that will be issued each week for Segments 3 and 4. Consequently, it isn’t yet possible to describe how confirmed letter numbers will influence forecasting assumptions. As all CSA cases will need to be closed over the agreed transitional timeline, resource demands will remain the same regardless of whether Segments 3 and 4 are implemented simultaneously.
Asked by: Anne Begg (Labour - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's consultation, child maintenance: closing cases in Segments 3 and 4 simultaneously, published on 27 October 2014, whether such simultaneous closure will affect the contract between G4S and his Department on the anticipated level of call demands to the Child Maintenance Options Service for the years 2015 and 2016.
Answered by Steve Webb
The proposed, simultaneous closure of Segment 3 and 4 cases will not affect the nature of the Child Maintenance Options supplier contract between G4S and DWP. This contract’s governance arrangement provides for operational resources to be reviewed each month and agreed for three months in advance, taking account of actual service demands versus forecasted business volumes.
Asked by: Anne Begg (Labour - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Scotland have had DWP form DS1500 signed by their doctor to confirm they are terminally ill in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is unable to provide the requested information as the DS1500 is completed by various Health Care Professionals from across the UK and the Department is not required to capture this level of Management Information.