Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that HM Courts and Tribunal Service hears appeals relating to the Child Support Agency as quickly as possible.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service will continue to work closely with the Tribunal judiciary to deal in a timely way with all categories of appeal it receives. Since appeal receipts have started to rise, steps are under way to increase the capacity and the performance of the Tribunal. These include reviewing listing practices, and recruiting over 400 judicial office holders to provide long-term capacity.

Information about the timeliness of Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) appeals is published on gov.uk. The most recent statistics, for the period January to March 2017, can be viewed at:

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognitions-certificates-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2017-and-2016-to-2017.