Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applicants to the Child Maintenance Service have been exempted from the £20 application fee since it was introduced on 30 June 2014.

The 2012 child maintenance scheme, administered by the Child Maintenance Service, was opened to all new applicants on 25 November 2013. We are not yet in a position to release full statistics, therefore we are unable to provide the information requested. When system data becomes available and fully assured they will be released as part of a managed process, which will be pre-announced and in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

We have released limited, relevant data on the 2012 statutory child maintenance scheme on an experimental basis. This is available on the GOV.UK website at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-on-the-2012-statutory-child-maintenance-scheme.