Public Accounts Committee Report (CAFCASS)

Debate between Baroness Hodge of Barking and Lord Johnson of Marylebone

Thursday 11th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Margaret Hodge]

Yes, there was unanimous agreement in Committee that the failure to collect adequate data to be able both to predict future case load and to manage current peaks and troughs in case loads was extremely worrying. I do not think that we were given any proper undertakings or comfort that CAFCASS was on top of the data and information requirements that would allow it to improve its performance.

[Joseph Johnson (Orpington) (Con)]

One way in which CAFCASS was world class was in the amount of pay that the chief executive received: £168,000. Given how long he had been in the role—since 2004—and the litany of failure against key performance indicators that the report exposed, did the right hon. Lady feel that the Department was sufficiently engaged with the possibility of management change at the top of CAFCASS?

[Margaret Hodge]

That is a matter for Ministers. I hope that the Under-Secretary of State for Education, the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton), who is in his place, will note this point: we were all a bit taken aback by the fact that the permanent secretary appeared, from the evidence that he was giving, to believe that the organisation was world class, as all the data in front of us suggested otherwise.