Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to increase the funding for the Child Maintenance Service to ensure prompt responses to correspondence from (a) residents of Nuneaton constituency and (b) other correspondents.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) continues to make significant investments in improving customer communications and correspondence through digital transformation and the Service Modernisation Programme.

A proportion of the overall funding for the programme is and will continue to be used to improve the service, including response times to correspondence.

One aim of the Programme is to improve CMS response times by increasing the capability of our self-service platforms, simplifying guidance and internal systems for our colleagues, and by freeing up caseworker time.

We strive to ensure staff are equipped with the tools needed to respond quickly and comprehensively to customer correspondence, however response times can vary depending on the complexity of individual cases. We will continue to invest in improving our contact channels for customers to offer a more flexible and responsive service to all customers.