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Dept of Social Security;Child Support Agency

Answer

Mr. Walden: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much is owing to the Child Support Agency collection service attributable (a) to type a interim maintenance assessments and (b) to full maintenance assessments, broken down by month from April 1994 until the most recent data available. [6242] 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 Ann Chant to Mr. George Walden, dated 9 January 1996: I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about how much is owing to the Child Support Agency collection service. At the end of October 1995, the total outstanding debt amounted to £766 million. It is estimated that the proportion of this debt which is attributable to interim maintenance assessments (IMAs) is 65 per cent. (approximately £498 million), and 35 per cent. (approximately £268 million) is attributable to full maintenance assessments (FMAs). It is not possible to give a monthly breakdown from April 1994 as this information only became available from September 1995. It is not possible to further break down the £498 million debt by category of IMA, but the vast majority of this debt can be attributed to category A IMAs. This is because the other types of IMAs (Category B, C and D) are used in circumstances where the absent parent is likely to be cooperating with the Agency. I hope this is helpful.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

6242; 269 c264W

Session

1995-96

Subjects

Children Child Support Agency Maintenance

Contains statistics

Yes