Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any records pertaining to the historical arrears-only cases from the 1993 and 2003 Child Maintenance Schemes been destroyed, deleted or removed from the Child Maintenance Service since the Child Maintenance (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018 came into force on 14 December 2018.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
There have been no records destroyed, deleted or removed from the Child Maintenance Service since the Child Maintenance (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018 came into force on 14 December 2018.
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much in arrears accrued under the historical arrears-only cases from the 1993 and 2003 Child Maintenance Schemes has been written-off since the Child Maintenance (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018 came into force on 14 December 2018.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department routinely publishes information on the 1993 and 2003 Child Maintenance schemes in the CSA Quarterly Summary of Statistics, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-statistics--2.
The next CSA Quarterly Summary of Statistics is due to be released in May. This will include statistics on the amount of historical arrears written off and the number of cases closed since the Child Maintenance (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018 came into force.
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many historical arrears-only cases from the 1993 and 2003 Child Maintenance Schemes have been closed since the Child Maintenance (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018 came into force on 14 December 2018.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department routinely publishes information on the 1993 and 2003 Child Maintenance schemes in the CSA Quarterly Summary of Statistics, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-statistics--2.
The next CSA Quarterly Summary of Statistics is due to be released in May. This will include statistics on the amount of historical arrears written off and the number of cases closed since the Child Maintenance (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018 came into force.
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many arrears-only cases are registered with the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Data is available on the number of arrears only cases registered with the Child Support Agency (CSA). This is available in Table 2 of the Child Support Agency Case Closure Statistics: June 2014 - September 2018 (below).
Statistics on the total number of Child Support Agency arrears only cases that have been transferred to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), and the number of CSA arrears only cases on the CMS caseload are published in Table 8 of the same publication (Child Support Agency Case Closure Statistics).
This publication shows that as of September 2018 there were 171,700 CSA arrears only cases on the Child Maintenance Service Caseload.
Data on the number of cases with arrears accrued within the Child Maintenance Service is available from Child Maintenance Service Administrative Data. This shows that, as of September 2018, there were 6,700 cases where arrears have been accumulated solely within CMS and liability has ended. There are a further 2,700 cases with both CMS and CSA arrears where liability has ended.*
Case closure is part of the government’s 2012 vision for child maintenance reforms designed to encourage parents to consider making collaborative family based arrangements.
Since 2014, cases with the Child Support Agency have been closed in a phased manner as part of the transition to the Child Maintenance Service.
To provide CSA clients with an opportunity to consider their choice of future maintenance arrangement – including whether they could make a family based arrangement – they are signposted to the Child Maintenance Options service as part of the closure process.
Following Parliamentary approval of new regulations in December 2018, the Department is now implementing its Child Maintenance Compliance and Arrears Strategy which includes finally dealing with the remaining arrears only CSA cases. Where there is a prospect that it may be cost effective to do so, we are offering parents a chance to ask the department to attempt to collect the outstanding arrears. Arrears that are not cost effective to attempt to collect and those which parents do not want us to pursue, will be written off.
*Please note that the data supplied on arrears accrued within the Child Maintenance Service are derived from unpublished management information which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many historical arrears cases have been transferred from the Child Support Agency to the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Data is available on the number of arrears only cases registered with the Child Support Agency (CSA). This is available in Table 2 of the Child Support Agency Case Closure Statistics: June 2014 - September 2018 (below).
Statistics on the total number of Child Support Agency arrears only cases that have been transferred to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), and the number of CSA arrears only cases on the CMS caseload are published in Table 8 of the same publication (Child Support Agency Case Closure Statistics).
This publication shows that as of September 2018 there were 171,700 CSA arrears only cases on the Child Maintenance Service Caseload.
Data on the number of cases with arrears accrued within the Child Maintenance Service is available from Child Maintenance Service Administrative Data. This shows that, as of September 2018, there were 6,700 cases where arrears have been accumulated solely within CMS and liability has ended. There are a further 2,700 cases with both CMS and CSA arrears where liability has ended.*
Case closure is part of the government’s 2012 vision for child maintenance reforms designed to encourage parents to consider making collaborative family based arrangements.
Since 2014, cases with the Child Support Agency have been closed in a phased manner as part of the transition to the Child Maintenance Service.
To provide CSA clients with an opportunity to consider their choice of future maintenance arrangement – including whether they could make a family based arrangement – they are signposted to the Child Maintenance Options service as part of the closure process.
Following Parliamentary approval of new regulations in December 2018, the Department is now implementing its Child Maintenance Compliance and Arrears Strategy which includes finally dealing with the remaining arrears only CSA cases. Where there is a prospect that it may be cost effective to do so, we are offering parents a chance to ask the department to attempt to collect the outstanding arrears. Arrears that are not cost effective to attempt to collect and those which parents do not want us to pursue, will be written off.
*Please note that the data supplied on arrears accrued within the Child Maintenance Service are derived from unpublished management information which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many historical arrears cases there were at the beginning of the migration of cases from the Child Support Agency to the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Data is available on the number of arrears only cases registered with the Child Support Agency (CSA). This is available in Table 2 of the Child Support Agency Case Closure Statistics: June 2014 - September 2018 (below).
Statistics on the total number of Child Support Agency arrears only cases that have been transferred to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), and the number of CSA arrears only cases on the CMS caseload are published in Table 8 of the same publication (Child Support Agency Case Closure Statistics).
This publication shows that as of September 2018 there were 171,700 CSA arrears only cases on the Child Maintenance Service Caseload.
Data on the number of cases with arrears accrued within the Child Maintenance Service is available from Child Maintenance Service Administrative Data. This shows that, as of September 2018, there were 6,700 cases where arrears have been accumulated solely within CMS and liability has ended. There are a further 2,700 cases with both CMS and CSA arrears where liability has ended.*
Case closure is part of the government’s 2012 vision for child maintenance reforms designed to encourage parents to consider making collaborative family based arrangements.
Since 2014, cases with the Child Support Agency have been closed in a phased manner as part of the transition to the Child Maintenance Service.
To provide CSA clients with an opportunity to consider their choice of future maintenance arrangement – including whether they could make a family based arrangement – they are signposted to the Child Maintenance Options service as part of the closure process.
Following Parliamentary approval of new regulations in December 2018, the Department is now implementing its Child Maintenance Compliance and Arrears Strategy which includes finally dealing with the remaining arrears only CSA cases. Where there is a prospect that it may be cost effective to do so, we are offering parents a chance to ask the department to attempt to collect the outstanding arrears. Arrears that are not cost effective to attempt to collect and those which parents do not want us to pursue, will be written off.
*Please note that the data supplied on arrears accrued within the Child Maintenance Service are derived from unpublished management information which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether policy, guidance and coding restrictions on style will be (a) based on the outcomes of a transparent, explicit and comprehensive consultation with the relevant local authority and (b) expressed in clear and unambiguous terms.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The National Planning Policy Framework indicates that visual tools such as design guides and codes should be prepared either by local planning authorities with the involvement of the local community, or by local communities themselves through the neighbourhood planning process. Such documents should set clear expectations, so that applicants for planning permission have as much certainty as possible about what is likely to be acceptable, while allowing a suitable degree of variety where this would be justified.
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will (a) clarify the objectives of the changes to the aspect of the National Planning Policy Framework where design and style have a value and (b) make it his policy that (i) appropriateness should be defined by clarifying local and commercial interests, (ii) the views of the community should be taken into account and (iii) through early engagement expectations should be clarified where previously it was explicit that decisions and policies should not impose style nor taste.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Creating high quality buildings and places is an important objective of the National Planning Policy Framework. To help achieve this, it stresses the importance of establishing clear community expectations of what good design looks like in each area, and of early discussions with the community about the design of emerging schemes. It also makes clear that design policies should be grounded in an understanding and evaluation of each area's defining characteristics, including materials, while allowing a suitable degree of variety where justified. Updated guidance to support these policies will be published in due course.
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment he has made of the ability of the EU to reach a legally binding agreement with the UK on a future trading relationship across the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, including a border in the Irish Sea, in advance of the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The future UK-EU trading relationship, which we are clear should ensure frictionless trade and avoid the need for a hard border, will need to be provided for in an agreement to be concluded once the the UK has left the EU. The EU will conclude the agreement under the procedure in Article 218 TFEU. The Withdrawal Agreement, which will include a legally operative Northern Ireland Protocol, needs to come into force when the UK leaves the EU. The PM has made clear that the customs solution in the Northern Ireland Protocol should be legally binding and UK wide, to ensure there is no scope for a customs border down the Irish Sea.
Asked by: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative - North East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment he has made of the ability of the EU to reach a legally-binding agreement with the UK on a future trading relationship in advance of the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
As the Prime Minister made clear in her Statement to the House on Monday (22-10-2018), the Future Framework agreement will take the form of a political declaration that will accompany and be referred to in the Withdrawal Agreement. Although the EU is only able legally to conclude the final agreements on the future relationship once the UK has left the EU in March 2019, this political declaration will nevertheless carry significant force.