Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-disclosure agreements her Department entered into in 2016.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
On 1st February 2015 guidance was implemented by the Cabinet Office explaining the principles and process to be followed when considering the use of settlement agreements when terminating employment resulting in the requirement to seek Ministerial approval.
DWP would use confidentiality clauses only with great exception and after obtaining appropriate approval. We have no record of DWP ever having requested, let alone received, such approval.
During the period 2005 to February 2015 records covering the use of any such agreements are not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-disclosure agreements her Department entered into in 2017.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
On 1st February 2015 guidance was implemented by the Cabinet Office explaining the principles and process to be followed when considering the use of settlement agreements when terminating employment resulting in the requirement to seek Ministerial approval.
DWP would use confidentiality clauses only with great exception and after obtaining appropriate approval. We have no record of DWP ever having requested, let alone received, such approval.
During the period 2005 to February 2015 records covering the use of any such agreements are not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-disclosure agreements her Department entered into in 2018.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
On 1st February 2015 guidance was implemented by the Cabinet Office explaining the principles and process to be followed when considering the use of settlement agreements when terminating employment resulting in the requirement to seek Ministerial approval.
DWP would use confidentiality clauses only with great exception and after obtaining appropriate approval. We have no record of DWP ever having requested, let alone received, such approval.
During the period 2005 to February 2015 records covering the use of any such agreements are not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average deduction of wages was for (a) one child, (b) two children and (c) three children by (i) the Child Support Agency and (ii) the Child Maintenance Service in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The following table provides the average quarterly amounts paid through a deduction from earning order/request for each available quarter in the years 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Figures are up to the quarter ending September 2018. This is consistent with the latest Official Statistics on the Child Maintenance Service and the Child Support Agency (CSA).
Data relating to the Child Maintenance Service is not readily available before July 2017.
For the Child Support Agency, in the quarter ending September 2018, there were no liabilities for cases with 3 or more children.
Average quarterly amount deducted |
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| ||
- |
| Child Support Agency |
| Child Maintenance Service | ||||
Number of Children |
| 1 | 2 | 3 or more |
| 1 | 2 | 3 or more |
Quarter ending |
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|
Mar-16 |
| £523 | £735 | £792 |
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|
|
Jun-16 |
| £532 | £745 | £804 |
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|
|
Sep-16 |
| £539 | £750 | £814 |
|
|
|
|
Dec-16 |
| £529 | £733 | £799 |
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|
|
|
Mar-17 |
| £517 | £716 | £783 |
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|
|
|
Jun-17 |
| £514 | £710 | £774 |
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|
|
|
Sep-17 |
| £520 | £724 | £893 |
| £567 | £686 | £778 |
Dec-17 |
| £537 | £749 | £920 |
| £559 | £691 | £791 |
Mar-18 |
| £539 | £745 | £948 |
| £575 | £706 | £786 |
Jun-181 |
| £475 | £585 | £1,063 |
| £591 | £725 | £815 |
Sep-181 |
| £455 | £1,187 | - |
| £600 | £738 | £840 |
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|
Figures are rounded to the nearest £.
Figures for three or more children are presented together as the rate at which a non-resident/paying parent is liable to pay does not change after three children.
The caseload on CSA is falling at a faster rate as we are approaching the end of the Case Closure programme. We have now ended liabilities on the majority of CSA cases and will be taking steps to conclude the remaining cases before the end of 2018.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether there is a bonus scheme in the Child Support Agency.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Child Support Agency (CSA) is part of the Department for Work and Pensions and staff in CSA are therefore eligible to receive rewards in line with the broader DWP reward and recognition policies.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she was aware of cases where service personnel were deducted more than £900 a month in child support payments while serving on operations.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
My Department does not hold information on whether service personnel are deployed on operations. Service personnel are treated in the same way as other paying parents and their child maintenance liability will increase, or decrease in line with any changes to their income.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many liability orders granted in magistrates' courts to the Child Support Agency were for an amount over £5,000.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department recorded and published data on the number of liability orders granted to the Child Support Agency up until November 2016. Statistics on liability orders granted to the Child Support Agency until this point are published in Table 22 of the Child Support Agency quarterly summary of statistics: December 2016, available online at:
It is not possible to provide information after November 2016 as this data is no longer recorded.
The Department does not record information on the value of liability orders granted in magistrates’ courts to the Child Support Agency. Therefore it is not possible to provide this information.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many liability orders were granted to the Child Support Agency in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department recorded and published data on the number of liability orders granted to the Child Support Agency up until November 2016. Statistics on liability orders granted to the Child Support Agency until this point are published in Table 22 of the Child Support Agency quarterly summary of statistics: December 2016, available online at:
It is not possible to provide information after November 2016 as this data is no longer recorded.
The Department does not record information on the value of liability orders granted in magistrates’ courts to the Child Support Agency. Therefore it is not possible to provide this information.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of alleged benefit fraud were reported to her Department in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Counter Fraud and Compliance Directorate (CFCD), part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), is responsible for the prevention, detection and, where appropriate, investigation of fraud and error relating to all benefits administered by and on behalf of DWP.
All reported allegations of benefit fraud are recorded and appropriate action taken.
The table below shows the number of benefit fraud allegation referrals received each year since 2008. It should be noted that within these totals there could be multiple referrals relating to the same allegation against an individual.
Year | Total Referrals From All Sources |
2008-09 | 891,000 |
2009-10 | 937,000 |
2010-11 | 938,000 |
2011-12 | 954,000 |
2012-13 | 850,000 |
2013-14 | 915,000 |
2014-15 | 740,000 |
2015-16 | 766,000 |
2016-17 | 765,000 |
2017-18 | 839,000 |
2018-19(YTD to 19.12.18) | 519,000 |
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the March 2017 report of the NAO entitled Child maintenance: closing cases and managing arrears on the 1993 and 2003 schemes, HC 1054, for what reason fewer than expected parents who were asked by her Department to join the new scheme have been joining that scheme when their 1993 and 2003 scheme cases are closed.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The findings of the NAO’s report was based on information gathered in 2016, a little over half way through the case closure programme. The Department’s estimate refers to the number of arrangements once the case closure process is complete. The NAO’s report also does not take into account the order in which cases were closed. To minimise disruption to Child Support Agency arrangements, those where no money was being paid were closed first and the Case Closure Outcomes survey published in December 2016 found that, clients who did not have maintenance payments flowing under the CSA, were less likely to set up a new arrangement with the CMS than parents whose CSA case had maintenance flowing.