CHILD SUPPORT AGENCY

Early day motion 675, tabled 21 July 2005 by Lord Field of Birkenhead (Labour). Signed by 47 members.

That this House regrets that after two years and two chief executives the Child Support Agency now owes £869 million in unpaid maintenance to 1.4 million parents including 260,000 who have received no payments at all as well as a further £1 billion written off as uncollectable, that new applications for maintenance are still not being cleared at a rate equivalent to intake and that the compliance rate for all cases is still only 75 per cent.; further regrets that 714,000 families still have cases on the old computer system operating on the old scheme rules and that a quarter of all maintenance calculations are still incorrect; and therefore calls on the Government urgently to formulate a long-term contingency plan and to give serious consideration to placing child maintenance collection with Revenue and Customs.

Signatures by party: Labour 26, Liberal Democrat 10, Conservative 6, DUP 3, Social Democratic and Labour Party 1, UUP 1.