Office of the Commissioner
PO Box 61791
London
SW1P 9NT
E [email address]
W www.childmaintenance.org
T Hall
Date: 3 August 2009
request-13674-
Ref: VTR 1239
[email address]
Dear T Hall,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request dated 25 June 2009. Please accept my
apologies for the delay in replying. Your request has been considered under the terms of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Please find below a copy of your request together
with a corresponding response.
Request
1)
Since the agency initiated their managerial steer, whereby arrears on a case are
collected within a 2 year period. How many individual cases have been committed by
the agency, to conform with this course of action?
2)
Of the total cases pertaining to 1), how many of these are specifically collecting money
destined for the Secretary of State as opposed to private individual clients?
Response
1. As at March 2009, there were 87,000 child maintenance cases whereby arrears are
due to be cleared within 2 years.
2. The information you requested is not available. While management information can
classify debt into that owed to a parent with care and that owed to the Secretary of
State, many cases will have arrears owing to both. It is not possible to differentiate
between arrears collected or owed to the parent with care and arrears collected which
are owed to the Secretary of State.
In order to comply with your request, we would have to create new information, which
falls outside the FOIA. Furthermore, we estimate that the cost of complying with your
request would exceed the appropriate limit of £450. The appropriate limit has been
specified in regulations and for non-departmental public bodies, such as the
Commission, it is set at £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person
spending 2.25 working days in determining whether the Commission holds the
information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information. Under section 12 of
the FOIA the Commission is not obliged to comply with your request and we will not be
processing your request further.
I’m sorry on this occasion I could not provide you with the full information you requested.
Yours sincerely
Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission
Freedom of Information Act Focal Point
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Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act
If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing
[email address] or by writing to Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, Freedom of
Information Act Focal Point, PO Box 61791, London, SW1P 9NT. Any review request should be submitted within two
months of the date of this letter.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s
Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints
procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
www.ico.gov.uk
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