Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether an external evaluator has been appointed to provide an independent assessment of the 17 Innovation Fund projects set up under the Help for Separated Families initiative to establish what works in assisting separated parents to co-operate in the interests of their children; when it is planned that that evaluation process will take place; and when it is planned that that evaluation report will be published.
Answered by Steve Webb
One of two evaluation partners has been appointed and we are in the process of appointing the second.
Evaluation data continues to be collected by all of the live projects and this data will be analysed and interpreted by our independent evaluator throughout the duration of their contract into 2016.
Results will be published after all projects have ended delivery and the external evaluator has completed their follow up work and analysis.
Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many calls were received by the Child Maintenance Options Service from parents who had been in contact with the Options Service during the period covered by his Department's most recent survey of effective family-based arrangements.
Answered by Steve Webb
The number of inbound calls received by the Child Maintenance Options Service in each month from Apr-13 to March 14 is available in the table below.
Month | Number of calls received by the Child Maintenance Options Service |
Apr-13 | 8,024 |
May-13 | 7,845 |
Jun-13 | 8,915 |
Jul-13 | 10,360 1 |
Aug-13 | 11,990 |
Sep-13 | 13,835 |
Oct-13 | 14,835 |
Nov-13 | 21,375 2 |
Dec-13 | 22,760 |
Jan-14 | 26,515 |
Feb-14 | 25,875 |
Mar-14 | 26,865 |
Notes:
- Data Sourced from CMO Monthly MI Service Pack
- Data rounded to nearest 5
1 Child Maintenance Options started providing a ‘soft gateway’ to the 2012 statutory child maintenance scheme, offering parents applying to the 2012 Scheme the opportunity to explore the full range of options before making an application, including considering making their own arrangements.
2 Child Maintenance Options became the automatic ‘gateway’ to the statutory 2012 child maintenance scheme, ensuring all parents who wish to access the 2012 Scheme are making a fully informed decision and have considered making their own arrangements first.
Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of parents in the survey conducted by his Department of parents' contact with the Child Maintenance Options Service between February 2013 and March 2014 had no maintenance arrangement following contact with the Service.
Answered by Steve Webb
Information around different arrangement types (including where parents have no arrangement) is under development and while not included in this publication, once assured, it will be included in future releases of this publication.
Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of parents in the survey conducted by his Department of parents' contact with the Child Maintenance Options Service between February 2013 and March 2014 chose to make a statutory maintenance arrangement following contact with the Service; and how many children such statutory arrangements covered.
Answered by Steve Webb
Information around different arrangement types is under development and while not included in this publication, once assured, it will be included in future releases of this publication.