In Parliament

MP Questions Work & Pensions Minister 19 November 2007

Jessica Morden MP Questions the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the redesign of Child Support

19th November 2007

Jessica Morden (Newport, East) (Lab): If he will make a statement on progress of the Child Support Agency's operational improvement plan.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr. James Plaskitt): The agency is halfway through its three-year operational improvement plan and is showing significant improvements in client services.

For example, uncleared applications have more than halved, and more than half of all new applications are now routinely cleared in less than six weeks. As a result of those recent improvements, additional maintenance worth more than £130 million is now flowing to an extra 130,000 children.

Jessica Morden: The emphasis on collecting historic debt is warmly welcomed by many of my constituents who have long-standing CSA cases. Will the Minister outline what progress is being made under the improvement plan and state how long it will take to recoup outstanding arrears?

Mr. Plaskitt: The debts within the organisation built up from day one of its operation, and they have accumulated over no fewer than 14 years. Within the operational improvement plan, we aim to collect £200 million of arrears by March 2009. Halfway through the plan, the latest figures show that we have collected £148 million of additional arrears. We have also given staff in the agency new powers to collect those arrears by, for example, using credit card collections over the phone. That has only recently come into effect, and it is proving to be very effective and has already raised an additional £12 million of arrears.

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