Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much Child Maintenance Service payment was reduced to receiving parents because of “special expenses” relating to travel to visit family in (1) 2020–21, (2) 2021–22, (3) 2022–23, and (4) 2023–24.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Special expense variations allow the Child Maintenance Service to look at some circumstances which are not covered by the basic maintenance calculation. A parent may apply for a variation at any time during the life of their case. If we accept a variation and it subsequently succeeds, we adjust the maintenance calculation accordingly.

Special expense variations are:

• contact costs
• illness or disability of relevant other child
• prior debts
• boarding school fees
• payments in respect of certain mortgages, loans, or insurance policies.

The Child Maintenance Service holds collective data for all special expense variation categories but we do not hold specific data for each individual category. As data is not readily available, to provide this would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people and how many full-time equivalent posts work in the Child Maintenance Service (1) as civil servants, and (2) as contractors.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

As of 30^th March 2025, the number of employees working for the Child Maintenance Service is 5,055. This equates to the full-time equivalent (FTE) of 4449.65

The breakdown for (1) civil servants, and (2) contractors are as follow:

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many, and what proportion of, parents in arrears on Child Maintenance Service payments are unemployed.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to ensuring separated parents support their children financially, taking robust enforcement action against those who do not. Where parents fail to pay their child maintenance, the Service will not hesitate to use its enforcement powers, including deductions from earnings orders, removal of driving licences, disqualification from holding a passport, and committal to prison.

If a paying parent is in receipts of benefits due to being unemployed, the CMS can set up a deduction from the benefit to collect ongoing maintenance, or arrears in the case of Collect and Pay. The CMS can deduct £8.40 a week towards ongoing maintenance or arrears from certain prescribed benefits. Deductions towards arrears and ongoing maintenance are not taken at the same time. Arrears deductions are taken only after ongoing liability has been satisfied.

The Information on the full arrears status of those parents is not readily available and to providei t would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to provide funding for a new school in Saxmundham for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities; if so, when building will start, and when the school will open.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)

The government is clear it wants to make sure all children with special educational needs and disabilities receive the support they need to achieve and thrive. We are committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, and ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs, restoring parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need.

Work on special and alternative provision (AP) free schools is continuing. As with all government investment, special and AP free school projects will be subject to value for money consideration through their development, in line with the government’s vision for the special educational needs system.

Projects are at different stages of development and the government is prioritising operational decisions on those that are due to open in the shorter term.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance has (1) the Cabinet Office and (2) the Information Commissioner provided to public authorities regarding sharing the personal identity of FOI request applicants when consulting a third party in relation to the FOI applicant’s request.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

All public authorities that process personal data for the purposes of responding to FOI requests must comply with the requirements of data protection legislation.

The Freedom of Information Code of Practice, issued under section 45 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, provides guidance to public authorities on consultation with third parties. The Code is published on GOV. UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freedom-of-information-code-of-practice.

Guidance issued by the Information Commissioner can be found at www.ico.org.uk

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