Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of deduction notices issued by the Child Maintenance Service as a result of a mistaken identity in the last 12 months.

We do not keep statistics or records of people who we have contacted where the identity has been incorrectly identified. In order to confirm accurate details for a customer, the Child Maintenance Service has a number of trace tools, including interfaces with other Government Departments and Credit Reference Agency, which we utilise to facilitate this. Where we are unable to identify a customer, we would not progress the case and therefore would not issue a deduction order on the case.