Tag: Karen Buck

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of cleansing the arrears balances of all existing Child Support Agency cases and establishing those costs on the 2012 statutory scheme.

Priti Patel

The Department is committed to closing the old child maintenance case management system. In the process of doing this the Department will bring cases up to date, correct obvious inaccuracies, and write off arrears where appropriate, for which there will be a temporary cost within the £236m outlined in the impact assessment that the Department published in 2013.

The cost of caseworker activity to review and update arrears on the existing systems for the 1.2m CSA cases expected to have an arrears balance is estimated to be £75m. This comprises: bringing all outstanding actions on the case up to date; reviewing the outstanding balance to incorporate those actions and eliminate obvious errors; establish whether the receiving parent wishes to write off any or all of the balance and take write off action if appropriate; and take the control actions to mark the case as closed.

Establishing those arrears on the new Child Maintenance system is estimated to cost £25m. This comprises: action to add the arrears to the schedule of amounts due produced by the 2012 system; and ensuring that where more than one receiving parent is due maintenance from the same paying parent, outstanding balances from the 1993 and 2003 schemes are correctly allocated.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what change there has been in the proportion of children and young people referred to Tier 2 CAMHS services since 2013 in (a) England, (b) each region, (c) each clinical commissioning group area and (d) each local authority area.

Alistair Burt

This information is not held centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in how many cases qualifying information on child maintenance non-compliance has been supplied to a credit reference agency, pursuant to section 40 of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008, since the commencement of that provision.

Priti Patel

The Child Maintenance Group (CMG) has shared case information with credit reference agencies on cases where there has been child maintenance non-compliance. These cases were solely for sampling purposes as part of a pilot to test the potential gains from sharing such information and to assure our business processes. The information supplied to the credit reference agencies during the pilot was not recorded on any of their live systems and following the pilot was destroyed in accordance with DWP security procedures.

On 30 November 2015 CMG will begin to issue the 21 day written warning of intention to disclose non-compliance information on all cases where the debt accrued has been recognised and a Liability Order to support this granted in the Magistrates / Sheriffs court. Where payment is still not received, the intention is to commence supplying this information to credit reference agencies in early 2016 for their use.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many convictions resulted from offences under (a) Part 1 and (b) Part 2 of the Housing Act 2004 in (i) England and (ii) each local justice area in (A) 2013, (B) 2014 and (C) 2015.

Brandon Lewis

The Department does not hold data on such convictions.

The Housing and Planning Bill contains measures to tackle rogue landlords who rent out sub-standard accommodation. Proposals include a database of rogue landlords and property agents, introducing banning orders for serious or repeat offenders, a tougher fit and proper person test, extending Rent Repayment Orders and introducing civil penalties of up to £30,000.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) six month notices, (b) three month closure notices and (c) final closure notices of case closure have been sent to Child Support Agency cases in (i) segment 1, (ii) segment 2, (iii) segment 3 and (iv) segment 4.

Priti Patel

The table below shows the total number of (a) six month notice letters of case closure, (b) one month reminder letters of case closure, and (c) final letters issued for segments 1, 2, 3 and 4, as at the end of December 2015:

Segment	1	2	3	4
Six month notice	395,500	137,900	43,200	238,900
One month reminder letter	365,400	104,600	30,100	69,800
Final letter	373,000	98,900	10,400	33,400

Notes

1. Figures rounded to nearest 100.
2. The figures are made up from cases proactively selected for case closure, and not those where an application has been made to the 2012 scheme and a related case exists on the 93/03 scheme which is then reactively closed down.
3. Cases selected for closure are sent a six month notice of case closure. One letter is sent to the parent with care and one to non-resident parent. They are then sent a reminder letter one month before their case closure date (no letter is sent at three months). They are sent a final letter when their case is closed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many (a) environmental health officers and (b) other staff in local authorities were responsible for enforcement of provisions in the Housing Act 2004 in (i) 2012-13, (ii) 2013-14 and (iii) 2014-15.

Brandon Lewis

The Department does not collect this data. It is the responsibility of local authorities to decide appropriate staffing levels to meet their obligations on enforcement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2015-10-27.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of households in receipt of tax credits in each of the last five tax years for which figures are available had not made a claim in the preceding tax year.

Damian Hinds

The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what change there was in the number of (a) mortgage and (b) landlord possession orders in each local authority between 2010 and 2015.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The data is published quarterly at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mortgage-and-landlord-possession-statistics under ‘Mortgage and landlord possession statistical data (zip file).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what research his Department has conducted on the willingness of landlords to let properties to tenants in receipt of housing benefit; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis

The English Housing Survey, funded by the Department, published its Headline Report 2014-15 in February 2016 which showed that 27% of privately rented households are in receipt of housing benefit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2015-10-27.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of households in receipt of tax credits in each of the last five tax years for which data are available did not make a claim in the following tax year.

Damian Hinds

The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.