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The Child Support Agency is beginning to "turn itself around" despite its problems, a Government minister said.

Department for Work and Pensions Minister Lord Hunt defended the beleaguered CSA as a report claimed it was still failing many parents and children despite millions of pounds being poured into reforms.

The National Audit Office document is the second damning study on the CSA this week and stated the reforms introduced in 2003 had so far cost the taxpayer £536 million but had not produced significant improvements. This figure was expected to rise to £800 million by 2010.

Earlier this year, Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton said the Government was aware that the CSA was "not fit for purpose". He appointed Sir David Henshaw to review child support arrangements and report back before the summer Parliamentary recess.

Lord Hunt replying to the suggestion the CSA was "shambolic" despite the money "thrown" at it by the Government, told GMTV: "We have to go into the reasons for these problems. Of course, there have been admin and IT problems, but at the heart of the issue is too many parents have sought to evade their responsibility to their children.

"So often the CSA is caught in the middle of warring parents and that has been one of its major difficulties.

"Now, of course, we want to put this right. We have an operational improvement plan in progress, we've put extra money in, extra staff. It's beginning to turn itself around - last year for instance 50,000 more children benefited from the work of the CSA.

"But, yes, lots more needs to be done. That's why we've asked Sir David to come up with a whole redesign."

The report said the Operational Improvement Plan announced in February to clear the backlog of cases will cost £320 million to implement.

Some £120 million of that will come from new funds and the remainder from savings within the agency. But given the scale of the agency's difficulties the report warned there would be "no quick fixes" in putting the problems right.