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Child Support Agency
Rev. William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the operation in Northern Ireland of the review procedure of the Child Support Agency. [12546]
Mr. Moss: Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Child Support Agency under its chief executive, Patrick Devlin. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from P. Devlin to Rev. William McCrea, dated 5 February 1996:
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has asked me to reply to your question about the operation in Northern Ireland of the review procedure of the Child Support Agency.
The procedures used by the Agency in reviewing child maintenance assessments are governed by the provisions of the Child Support (NI) Order 1991; the Child Support (Maintenance Assessment Procedure) Regulations (NI) 1992 and the Child Support (NI) Order 1995.
Where either parent is not satisfied with a decision of a Child Support Officer he or she may ask for it to be reviewed. The case is then reconsidered by a different Child Support Officer who may refuse to review the decision; or may review and confirm or review and revise the assessment.
If either party remains aggrieved by the decision of a Child Support Officer in respect of a review or a refusal to refuse an assessment, he or she may appeal to a Child Support Appeal Tribunal.
During the period 6 April 1995 to 18 January 1996 the Agency reviewed 2273 maintenance assessments. In the same period the Agency referred 78 appeals to the Independent Tribunal Service (ITS).
I hope you find this information useful.
Child Rearing Costs
Rev. William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the current costs of bringing up children to (a) lone parents and (b) couples. [12547]
Mr. Moss: Where a lone parent is in employment there is a potentially greater need to pay for child care. Apart from this, there is no consistent evidence that the financial requirements of a lone-parent household in bringing up a child are different from those of a two-parent household.
Suicides
Rev. William McCrea:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many suicides there have been in the Province in each of the last 10 years. [12548]
5 Feb 1996 : Column: 78
Sir John Wheeler:
The number of deaths registered as suicides in the Province in each of the last 10 years is set out in the list. Deaths are recorded according to date of registration and not by date of occurrence.
1985: 117
1986: 145
1987: 86
1988: 153
1989: 116
1990: 158
1991: 129
1992: 107
1993: 129
1994: 138
1995: 55 up to 30 June
Social Security (Fraud)
Rev. William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how many fraud investigation officers were employed in social security offices in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years; [12549]
- (2) what priority has been given to tackling fraud in the social service reforms. [12550]
Mr. Moss: Responsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Social Security Agency under its chief executive, Mr. Alec Wylie. I have asked him to arrange for a response to be given.
Letter from Alec Wylie to Rev. William McCrea, dated 1 February 1996:
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(36) The reduction in staff in 1994-95 and 1995-96 was due to problems the Agency had in filling vacancies.
I have been asked to reply to your recent questions on fraud investigation officers and social security fraud.
You asked for information on the number of fraud investigation officers employed in social security offices in each of the last 10 years. I'm sorry that records are only available from the 1988/89 financial year and I have set these out in the attached table. I should explain that wile these officers cover social security office areas they are managed centrally by the Agency's Fraud and Prosecutions Unit in a regional office structure and not by SSO management.
You also wished to know the level of priority given to tackling fraud in social security benefits. I would wish to assure your that providing safeguards against fraud and abuse in the social security system has been and continues to be one of the Agency's top priorities. This stems from the main aims and objectives set out in the Agency's Framework Document and annual Business plans and through my responsibilities as an Accounting Officer. Each year the Agency is set targets for benefit savings from anti-fraud work and these have increased from £7.84m in 1991/92 to £14m for 1995/96. Despite the difficult security conditions in which our investigation officers have had to operate, the Agency has met all its fraud savings targets up to the end of 1994/95 and has saved some £44m in total.
Recently, responsibility for formulating the policy for social security fraud has been transferred from the Department to the Agency and at the beginning of January this year the Department issued a corporate statement on fraud to all its business areas. The statement contains a set of principles which include the duty to ensure that steps are taken to prevent, deter and detect fraud and, where appropriate, to prosecute offenders. The Agency is in the process of developing a new security strategy for social security benefits which will shift the focus of fraud work from detection and investigation to prevention of offences before they occur. An important element of the new anti-fraud strategy is the introduction of a benefit payment card which will provide a much more secure payment system as well as more efficient accounting arrangements.
Finally, the Social Security Agency will continue to review its operational procedures, savings targets and objectives to ensure that they meet our main aim that only the right amount of benefit is paid to the right person.
I hope this explains the position for you but I would be happy to provide you with any further information you may require.
Year Number of investigators
1988-89 41
1989-90 45
1990-91 73
1991-92 71
1992-93 74
1993-94 73
1994-95(36) 66
1995-96(36) 61
School Curriculum
Rev. William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the quality and diversity of the curriculum in school education. [12551]
Mr. Ancram: For pupils aged four to 16, the Northern Ireland curriculum provides a broad range of subjects offering high-quality programmes of study and ensuring a curriculum of appropriate breadth, balance and depth. The requirements for all compulsory subjects--apart from the statutory core syllabus for religious education, the content of which has not been reviewed--have recently been reduced to give teachers and pupils at all ages more flexibility to study subjects and topics in which they are interested beyond the requirements. The revised programmes will come into effect from September 1996, and I am confident that teachers will welcome them.
For pupils aged 16 to 19 in schools, there is no compulsory curriculum beyond religious education; each school with a sixth form offers a range of subjects according to its own strengths and students' needs. The Dearing review will be reporting within the next few months on ways to strengthen, consolidate and improve the national framework of qualifications for young people aged 16-plus which of course also applies in Northern Ireland.
Stormont Parliament Building
Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on progress made in restoring the Chamber at Stormont and other parts of the Parliament building damaged or destroyed by fire. [12919]
Mr. Moss:
The first priority, after the weatherproofing and salvage had been carried out, was to ensure that the Chamber was structurally sound. This was achieved by demolishing unstable masonry and repairing damaged roof structural steelwork. This was completed in October 1995. The condition of the structure continues to be monitored to establish when conditions have stabilised sufficiently to allow the commencement of the interior fit out of the Chamber. Work is well under way to restore
5 Feb 1996 : Column: 80
those other areas of the building damaged by the fire and to refurbish the remainder of the building. The contract should be completed by spring 1997.
Mr. William Ross:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what has been the price paid for suckled calves in the main Northern Ireland markets in actual and in real terms over each of the last 25 years or for as long a period as is readily available to him. [13447]
Mr. Ancram:
Estimates of prices paid for suckled calves in a sample of the main markets in Northern Ireland in each of the last 25 years are given in the table, in current prices and in real terms.
| Year | Current prices | Prices in real terms using 1995 as the base year |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 47.34 | 347.55 |
| 1972 | 80.53 | 553.41 |
| 1973 | 78.51 | 493.61 |
| 1974 | 32.80 | 177.84 |
| 1975 | 72.17 | 314.78 |
| 1976 | 164.23 | 614.30 |
| 1977 | 165.54 | 534.61 |
| 1978 | 204.20 | 609.51 |
| 1979 | 176.74 | 465.27 |
| 1980 | 159.11 | 354.85 |
| 1981 | 227.41 | 453.29 |
| 1982 | 257.47 | 472.56 |
| 1983 | 258.60 | 453.51 |
| 1984 | 267.10 | 446.55 |
| 1985 | 230.88 | 363.87 |
| 1986 | 227.73 | 346.88 |
| 1987 | 298.87 | 437.21 |
| 1988 | 357.32 | 498.64 |
| 1989 | 330.27 | 427.11 |
| 1990 | 278.97 | 329.74 |
| 1991 | 263.82 | 294.46 |
| 1992 | 305.36 | 328.72 |
| 1993 | 329.91 | 349.73 |
| 1994 | 374.87 | 387.66 |
| 1995 | 426.14 | 426.14 |
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