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National Insurance
Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the benefits on receipt of which people may be credited with class 1 national insurance contributions; how many people were affected by this; and what is the cost to the Exchequer of crediting people with class 1 national insurance contributions by benefit type and in total. [1827]
Mr. Heald: Class 1 national insurance credits may be awarded to people receiving unemployment benefit, incapacity benefit, severe disablement allowance, statutory sick pay, statutory maternity pay, maternity allowance, disability working allowance, invalid care allowance and, where the individual is sick or unemployed, with income support. Credits may also be awarded in cases of sickness and unemployment where no benefit is in payment. Estimates of the cost of credits to the Exchequer are not available. Estimates of the number of benefit recipients in the United Kingdom who were credited with at least one class 1 contribution in the tax year 1992-93 are in the table.
| Type of benefit | Number |
|---|---|
| Unemployment benefit | (7)5,083 |
| Sickness benefit/invalidity benefit/maternity allowance/SDA/SSP/SMP | (8)1,947 |
| Invalid care allowance | 220 |
| Disability working allowance | 3 |
Notes:
(5) Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.
(6) People credited with more than one type of credit are included in
more than one of the above totals.
(7) Includes unemployed people receiving income support and
unemployed people not receiving benefit.
(8) Includes sick people receiving income support and sick people not
receiving benefit. Source: 1 per cent. sample of national insurance records.
Child Support Agency
Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to privatise sections of the Child Support Agency; and if he will make a statement. [634]
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 23 November 1995:
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about privatisation of parts of the Child Support Agency.
24 Nov 1995 : Column: 360
Mr. Mitchell:
The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 23 November 1995:
Mr. Mitchell:
The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Miss Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 23 November 1995:
24 Nov 1995 : Column: 361
The Agency is currently undertaking a study into the feasibility of having incoming mail opened and sorted during night time hours by Royal Mail. Evaluation of the feasibility study will enable the Agency to determine whether there are significant operational advantages in placing a contract for the delivery of this service in the longer term.
Ms Lynne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give a breakdown of child support arrears, indicating the initial payment period, and the number of cases with each level of arrears. [635]
A pilot exercise is running at Falkirk until 31 March 1996. After the exercise, decisions will be taken on whether to contract out the service at Falkirk and whether to extend the operation to other Child Support Agency Centres.
On a wider basis, the services provided by the Child Support Agency will be considered as part of a formal evaluation of the Agency, as is required of all Next Steps Agencies. This is due to be completed by March 1998 and it will include the consideration of all possible options for the best means of delivering the services currently provided by the Agency.
Ms Lynne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) in how many cases he has become aware that a Child Support Agency client is a potential suicide risk; and if he will give a month-by-month breakdown for each centre; [636]
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about Child Support arrears.
Although information on the number of cases with arrears is available, a breakdown of the amount of arrears in each case could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Information on the proportion of arrears that relate to the initial payment period (IPP) is not available. Once IPP maintenance has been rescheduled as arrears it cannot be separately identified.
At 15 September 1995, there were 161,309 cases with arrears. Of these, 89,768 had made at least one payment in the previous 13 weeks, and in the remaining 71,541, no payments had been made.
At the end of September the total maintenance owed to the Agency was £738m. Around 65% of this (£480m) is provisional debt as it relates to interim maintenance assessments. A further 13% (£100m) relates to cases where an agreement has been made with the absent parent as to how and when the maintenance will be paid in the future; these agreements are carefully monitored. It is not possible to say how much of the remaining £158m relates to the initial payment period.
I hope this is helpful.
(2) what procedures are applied when he becomes aware that a client of the Child Support Agency is a potential suicide risk. [637]
I am replying to your Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the Child Support Agency's approach to cases where a client "is a suicide risk".
I am sorry that it is not possible to provide an answer to your Questions in the form you have asked, but I will try to address what I think are your main concerns.
Like many other organisations, this Agency is responsible for administering legal and financial responsibilities which are prescribed in legislation, and which may have to be enforced--not least to protect the rights of third parties. Because of the basic nature of our work, we often have to enter people's lives with information that may well add to existing emotional and financial problems.
All staff, particularly those engaged on debt management work, are well trained to deal sensitively with all clients, and to have due regard for the fact some people--whether they are absent parents or parents with care--may well become extremely distressed and even threaten to harm themselves. If they have serious concerns about a particular client, then, following the sort of procedures adopted by organisations with comparable responsibilities, they refer it to a senior, more experienced, manager for their consideration. For example, if a non-compliant absent parent is apparently getting seriously distressed by impending court action, they may check to make doubly sure that all other possibilities have been exhausted, and suspend action on the case for a limited period while this is done. They will decide on how to proceed with all such cases and will control and monitor further action on them.
That manager has no discretion to vary the legally-due amount of maintenance, but they can negotiate the rate of arrears repayments if this offers a possible solution. When managers act in this special role they are not counsellors, nor do they deal solely with cases where there is a suggestion that a client may have threatened to harm themselves: they are simply taking on additional management responsibilities. They act in a supportive manner, but within the framework of ensuring that child maintenance is paid at the required levels to those to whom it is due.
I hope this information is helpful to you.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what assessment his Department has made of the impact on the timetabling of capital projects by existing councils as a result of their being unable to commit more than 70 per cent. of the new unitary budgets for 1995-96; [1183]
(2) when he issued guidance to existing councils in Scotland not to commit more than 70 per cent. of the capital budgets of the new unitary councils in 1995-96; and what considerations underlay the issuing of this guidance; [1184]
(3) what discussions officials of his Department have had with those of the existing regional, district and island councils and shadow councils relating to the impact of his Department's guidance to existing councils not to commit more than 70 per cent. of the capital expenditure of the new unitary councils in the financial year 1995-96; and what the content of these discussions has been. [1185]
Mr. Kynoch: Local authorities' ability to enter into legal commitments in forward years is restricted to a percentage specified in annual capital consent letters. In previous years, authorities have been permitted to enter into forward legal commitments on their non-housing capital programmes of up to 80 per cent. of their provisional capital allocations for the two subsequent years. Non-housing capital consents issued to authorities on 13 March 1995 changed the amount which could be committed in 1996-97 and 1997-98 to 70 per cent. of capital allocations for 1995-96, except in the case of the islands councils where the limit remains at 80 per cent.
The change was made to ensure that existing authorities were able to maintain continuity in their capital programmes without unduly constraining their successors
24 Nov 1995 : Column: 362
by committing a very high proportion of their likely future resources. This change was discussed and agreed with representatives of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities at a meeting on 14 February 1995.
The forward commitment limit of 70 per cent. for housing capital programmes is unchanged from previous years.
Mr. Donohoe:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he expects to be able to indicate the budgets and capital budgets of Scotland's new unitary councils. [1182]
Mr. Kynoch:
My right hon. Friend intends to issue non-housing capital consents in late February or early March 1996 and housing capital consents in March 1996. The setting of the revenue budgets for 1996-97 is entirely the responsibility of the councils concerned.
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