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12 Dec 2005 : Column 1764W—continued
Inactive Benefits
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many recipients of inactive benefits in Coventry South moved back to work in 2004–05. [33510]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 5 December 2005]: The information is not available in the format requested. The Department for Work and Pensions Research Report No 244—Destination of benefit leavers 2004—showed that nationally, 62 per cent. of claimants leaving income support, incapacity benefit or jobseekers allowance entered employment of 16 hours or more a week. Copies of the report are available in the Library.
Incapacity Benefit
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many existing incapacity benefit claimants who voluntarily entered the Pathways to Work pilots had been claiming benefit for (a) one month, (b) two to three months, (c) three to six months, (d) six to 12 months, (e) 12 to 24 months and (f) 24 months and over prior to entering the pilot; and what proportion found work. [25136]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 7 November 2005]: The available information is in the tables.
12 Dec 2005 : Column 1765W
Notes:
1.Data is to the end of August 2005.
2.Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
3.Incapacity benefit durations of one month cannot be identified separately.
Source:
Pathways to Work Evaluation Database
Income Support
Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will apply the same rules for payment of carer's allowance and income support to carers of people who are in receipt of low rate disability living allowance while applying for a higher rate due to their condition worsening as applies to the payment of those benefits to carers of people whose application for disability living allowance is still being processed; and if he will make a statement. [36598]
Mrs. McGuire: The rules governing entitlement to carer's allowance and any consequent entitlement there might be to a carer premium in the income-related benefits or to a carer's additional amount in pension credit, are the same in both circumstances.
Integrated Benefits
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what the failed call rate has been for Jobcentre Plus areas operating integrated benefit system pilots; [28387]
(2) what is the average duration of telephone benefitapplications in integrated benefit system pilot areas. [28390]
Margaret Hodge: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 12 December 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions concerning failed call rates and durations of calls for new claims to working age benefits. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
It may be helpful if I explain that, to make a claim in an area operating the new Jobcentre Plus model, the customer calls a contact centre. Contact centre staff ask the customer a series of questions to assess their potential eligibility to Jobcentre Plus benefits. They then arrange to call the customer back to complete the claim form, which is sent to the customer to check and sign. They will also arrange a work focused interview at the customer's local Jobcentre Plus office where this is appropriate.
Our aim is to answer 90% of calls made to the contact centre. The most recent information we have is for week ending 4 November 2005 when we answered 81.5% of calls.
With regard to the duration of telephone benefit applications, we do not hold information on the average length of telephone calls to gather all the information necessary to complete a claim form. However we do have the average length of the initial call made by the customer. The most recent information shows that this is taking an average of 12 minutes.
Job Vacancies
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many job vacancies there are in Tamworth constituency; how many there were on the same date last year; and what the vacancy rate in England is per 1,000 of population. [35670]
Margaret Hodge: Nationally the number of vacancies remains at a historically high level. The latest vacancy survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates there were 605.1 thousand unfilled vacancies in the quarter to October 2005, compared to 638.4 thousand this time last year. The ONS vacancy ratio for the UK for October 2005 (the latest data) is 2.3. This is the number of vacancies per 100 employee jobs. The specific information requested on the vacancy rate for England is not available.
More than 10,000 new vacancies are placed at Jobcentres every working day and at least as many again come up through other recruitment channels. In the Tamworth constituency 427 vacancies were notified to Jobcentre Plus in November 2004, rising to 662 in October 2005.
Jobcentre Plus
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the latest estimate is of the cost of rolling out the Jobcentre Plus programme; what the annual running cost will be; and what the cost of running Jobcentre offices was in the last year of their operation. [28700]
Margaret Hodge: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 12 December 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning: the latest estimate of the cost of rolling out the Jobcentre Plus programme; what the annual running cost will be; and what the cost of running Jobcentre offices was in the last year of their operation. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The latest cost estimate for completion of the rollout programme is just in excess of £2 billion against an original budget of £2.2 billion. The latest estimate of the running costs for the whole of Jobcentre Plus for 2005–06 is £2,592 million. The latest
- estimate on the annual savings on running costs that can be expected once the rollout programme is completed amounts to £20 million per annum.
Running costs are not monitored at the level of individual Jobcentre offices so I am unable to answer the final question raised. The information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Anthony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State forWork and Pensions (1) what consultations have been undertaken to assess (a) the impact of Jobcentre Plus's Response to Displayed Vacancies system on (i)employment figures and (ii) local communities and (b) the effectiveness of the system; [30361]
(2) what analysis has been undertaken to assess the cost of implementing Jobcentre Plus's Response to Displayed Vacancies system. [30362]
Margaret Hodge: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 12 December 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions concerning Jobcentre Plus' Response to Displayed Vacancies (RDV) system. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Prior to the creation of Jobcentre Plus, the Employment Service embarked on its Modernising Employment Service (MES) programme. Part of this programme was to change RDV (card vacancies) to touch screen kiosks or Jobpoints", whilst ensuring that the needs and expectations of individual customers were met. As RDV was the preceding system, I have taken your question to be referring to Jobpoints.
A wide variety of research has been carried out to assess the impact of these changes, and the use of Jobpoints, on local communities and the effectiveness of Jobcentre Plus systems. This includes:
Greater London Enterprise carried out three sweeps of the Qualitative Employer Survey and the Customer Service Centre Case Studies;
a follow-up national telephone survey of 3,411 Jobcentre Plus customers to provide representative data on customers' experience of, views on, and satisfaction with, Jobcentre Plus services; and
Furthermore, an independent evaluation of customers' reactions to these changes, carried out in January 2003, showed that between 31% and 48% of jobseekers reported an increase in the numbers and types of vacancies they looked at, the number of applications made, and their confidence in getting a job.
An analysis of the costs to Jobcentre Plus of introducing Jobpoints was included in the overall MES evaluation in 2003. When set alongside reduced resources for operational delivery during MES implementation, this supported the conclusion that MES enabled improved efficiency, accuracy, flexibility and responsiveness of work processes.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the national performance targets are for Jobcentre Plus; and what the performance of Jobcentre Plus offices in (a) Torquay, (b) Paignton and (c) Brixham has been against those targets. [32063]
Margaret Hodge: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 12 December 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question regarding what the National Performance Targets are for Jobcentre Plus; and what the performance of Jobcentre Plus offices in (a) Torquay, (b) Paignton and (c) Brixham has been against those targets. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
For the April 2005 to March 2006 operational year, Jobcentre Plus has been set six targets. They are:
Job Entry Target—to achieve a total points score of 6,659,148 based on the job entry outcomes Jobcentre Plus achieves;
Monetary Value of Fraud and Error (MVFE) Target—by March 2006, to reduce losses from fraud and error in working age Income Support (IS) and Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) to no more than 5.2 percent of the monetary value of these benefits paid during the year;
Customer Service Target—to achieve 81 percent customer service level in the delivery of the standards and commitments set out in the Customers' and Employers' Charters;
Employer Outcome Target—at least 84 percent of employers placing their vacancies with Jobcentre Plus will have a positive outcome;
Business Delivery Target—to ensure that specified key Jobcentre Plus business processes are delivered efficiently, accurately and to specified standards in 90.3 percent of cases checked.
You asked for specific performance information against National Performance targets at the Jobcentre Plus offices in Brixham, Paignton and Torquay. Because of the way in which Jobcentre Plus is structured, and the way information on performance is collated, we cannot provide target information at local office level.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 21 November 2005, Official Report, column 1664W, on benefits, which Jobcentre Plus contact centres are operating some clerical processes due to problems with the customer management system; how many were operating such processes in each week since 1 June; and if he will make a statement. [32939]
Margaret Hodge: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 12 December 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning which Jobcentre Plus contact centres are operating some clerical processes due to problems with the CMS system and how many were operating such processes in each week since 1st June. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Since the 1st June, none of our CMS contact centres have been operating clerical processes as a direct result of problems with the CMS system. Customers have experienced difficulties getting through to some of our contact centres because our business has been going through significant change. We have taken steps to address this by introducing temporary adjustments, including
- some clerical processes, to streamline business processes whilst we go through this transitional period. These temporary adjustments have been implemented as follows:
October 2005 in nine contact centres: Coventry, Derby, Hastings, Lincoln, Lowestoft, Pembroke Dock, Poole, Sheffield and Torquay.
The nine contact centres that implemented temporary adjustments in October continue to operate these. Plans are in progress to reintroduce the non-clerical process to these centres during the course of the operational year.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent meetings he has had about the performance of Jobcentre Plus. [33915]
Margaret Hodge: Ministers meet with the chief executive and senior officials of Jobcentre Plus on a regular basis to discuss all aspects of Jobcentre Plus business.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time taken is for (a) callback and (b) interview under the Customer Management System for customers who contact Jobcentre Plus through the medium of (i) Welsh and (ii)English; and what the average time taken was in each of the last three months. [34172]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 2 December 2005]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 12 December 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning the average delay for callback and interview under the Customer Management System for customers who contact Jobcentre Plus through the medium of Welsh and English; and what the average delays were in each of the last three months. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Our aim is to call customers back within 24 hours of the inbound call. The current average waiting time for a call back in November across all contact centres is 1.9 days. In the week ending 25 November the average waiting time for a call back is 1.6days. This is a significant improvement on the average of 4.9days in September and 3.3 days in October.
We do not collect information on average call back times specifically for customers speaking the Welsh language. These call backs are made by our Bridgend contact centre, along with those to English language speakers. Currently the average call back time in Bridgend is one day, in September this figure was 3.8 days and in October it was 4.5 days.
We have an internal standard to complete work-focused interviews within 4 days of initial contact with the customer. Twelve of our centres captured data from 273 Local Service Outlets over a sample period from 16th September 2005 to 25th November 2005 on the waiting times for these interviews. This information is in the table.
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Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in which areas Jobcentre Plus offices have replaced Benefit Agency offices; and when he expects the remaining Benefit Agency offices to be replaced by Jobcentre Plus offices. [34287]
Margaret Hodge: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 12 December 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning which areas Jobcentre Plus offices have replaced Benefit Agency offices and when he expects the remaining Benefit Agency offices to be replaced by Jobcentre Plus offices. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Since the inception of Jobcentre Plus in 2002 we have been refurbishing and replacing the offices of the former Benefits Agency and Employment Service, on a rolling programme, to enable us to deliver the new, integrated Jobcentre Plus service. We are now in the final phase of rollout and every Jobcentre Plus district has live Jobcentre Plus offices and some districts are already completely rolled out. The following table lists all Jobcentre Plus districts, and where they are in the rollout programme.
12 Dec 2005 : Column 1771W
By summer 2006 the rollout programme will be substantially complete and all of our customers will have access to an integrated jobs and benefit service.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which Jobcentre Plus contact centres are operating some clerical processes; and if he will make a statement on the (a) reasons for and (b) extent of clerical processing in each case. [34384]
Margaret Hodge:
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.
12 Dec 2005 : Column 1772W
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 12 December 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning which Jobcentre Plus contact centres are operating some clerical processes; and if he will make a statement on the (a)reasons for and (b) extent of clerical processing in each case. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Plus is undertaking a massive change programme. By making substantial investment in improved IT, including the introduction of the Customer Management System (CMS), we are modernising and improving our service to customers which enables us to provide easier access to our services for all our customers, irrespective of their geographical location.
Change on this scale does create challenges in maintaining levels of service. We know that some customers experienced difficulties in getting through to some of our contact centres in August and September. Robust plans were developed and implemented to improve performance. These include the introduction of clerical processes in some contact centres and the combining of the inbound and outbound call where appropriate. We have also strengthened recruitment plans supported by robust training programmes. These plans have been successful and we have seen week on week improvements in customer service since the beginning of September.
On 30 November 2005 nine contact centres were using some clerical processes to process claims. The numbers shown below are the percentage of claims being processed in contact centres using these clerical processes.
| Percentage | |
|---|---|
| Coventry | 70 |
| Derby | 14 |
| Hastings | 53 |
| Lincoln | 32 |
| Lowestoft | 20 |
| Pembroke Dock | 14 |
| Poole | 12 |
| Sheffield | 48 |
| Torquay | 20 |
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) if he will make a statement on the measures used to assist Employment Service and Benefits Agency staff in the cultural transition to Jobcentre Plus; [34387]
(2) what assessment has been made of staff views on the transition to Jobcentre Plus; and if he will place copies in the Library. [34388]
Margaret Hodge: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 12 December 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions concerning the measures used to assist Employment Service and Benefits Agency staff in the cultural transition to Jobcentre Plus and the assessments made on staff feedback related to this transition. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive.
The Jobcentre Plus programme, called 'Pulling Together', was at the heart of our aim to create and sustain a unified culture within Jobcentre Plus. It was delivered in every Jobcentre Plus site and its objectives were:
Embedding the DWP Values in all teams—Our Values are, Achieving the Best, Making a Difference, Looking Outwards and Respecting People
The spirit of Pulling Together was established as being something for local units to implement, with a deliberately 'light touch' from the centre. Fundamental to Pulling Together activity was the development of action plans to address local issues linked to the programme's key objectives. Facilitated planning sessions provided the opportunity for our people to consider issues relating to their transition to Jobcentre Plus. Any issues which could not be resolved locally, were fed up the line for resolution at either regional or national level.
Following the success of the Pulling Together programme we have recently launched our new Culture Change programme, called Working Together which focuses on providing our managers with the support, resilience and tools they need to lead their people through change. It also addresses the cultural issues emerging from our staff survey results.
The annual DWP Staff Attitude Survey provides a key mechanism for our people to comment on a range of important issues. I will arrange for a copy of the 2004 survey and the key actions we took in response, to be placed in the House of Commons Library. This feedback enables us to identify those areas where we can take action to address emerging issues and improve our working environment.
These annual surveys provide a good picture of how things are working and changing across our business. We place great importance on the feedback received from our people and are always looking to improve the way we capture this information.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what services are provided by Integrated Jobcentre Plus customer-facing offices. [34389]
Margaret Hodge: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 12 December 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question regarding what services are provided by integrated Jobcentre Plus customer facing offices. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Plus is gradually replacing social security offices and Jobcentres. Our customers can now make enquiries about their benefits and about job opportunities in one place.
telephone contact facilities through dedicated 'customer access phones' giving access to other Jobcentre Plus services;
a new appointment system to reduce queuing and waiting times; benefit assessment at the new claims stage;
The design and layout of the Jobcentre Plus offices also provides a modern, professional and welcoming environment for all our customers.
Mr. Laws:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many calls have been made by claimants from 'warm phones' within Jobcentre Plus offices to
12 Dec 2005 : Column 1774W
Jobcentre Plus call centres in each month since 2003; how many of these calls (a) were handled by an adviserand (b) received an engaged tone; and what the average wait was to speak to a call centre adviser in each month. [35362]
Margaret Hodge: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 12 December 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning how many calls have been made by claimants from 'warm phones' within Jobcentre Plus offices to Jobcentre Plus call centres in each month since 2003; how many were (a) handled by an adviser and (b) received an engaged tone, and what the average wait was to speak to a call centre adviser in each month. This is something, which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
We do not hold centrally the information required to answer your question on calls from Jobcentre Plus 'warm phones' and this could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many crisis loan applications have been received from people who are waiting for their benefit claims to be processed by JobCentre Plus, broken down by contact centre. [34272]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 6 December 2005]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 12 December 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning how many Crisis Loan applications have been received from people who are waiting for their benefit claims to be processed by Jobcentre Plus, broken down by Contact Centre. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The information is not available in the format requested, as Crisis Loan delivery is not part of the Contact Centre network. Jobcentre Plus is in the process of moving its Crisis Loan application process to a telephony service, for all but exceptional cases. This service will be operated by Social Fund personnel, outside the Contact Centre network. Many Districts are already operating in this way.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total processing times arefor new (a) jobseeker's allowance and (b) income support claims in (i) JobCentre Plus areas and (ii) areas where JobCentre Plus is not yet rolled out. [34274]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 6 December 2005]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 12 December 2005:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has asked me to reply to your question concerning the total processing times for (a) Jobseeker's Allowance and (b) Income Support claims in (i)Jobcentre Plus areas and (ii) areas where Jobcentre Plus is not yet rolled out. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The Department is currently rolling out its integrated Jobcentre Plus offices with 680 sites currently completed. At the same time, we are rationalising and centralising the sites where benefit processing is carried out.
The information is not available in the format requested because processing centres keep statistics about the number of claims that are cleared and how long it took. The statistics show where the claim was processed, not where it originated so processing centres have no means to differentiate between claims that have been made via the new integrated Jobcentre Plus offices and the existing Jobcentres.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what instructions have been issued to Jobcentre Plus and Customer Management System staff on the advice they should offer to customers who state they are suffering financial hardship while awaiting an interview and processing of their claim. [34275]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 6 December 2005]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 12 December 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning the instructions issued to Jobcentre Plus and Customer Management System staff on the advice they should offer to customers who state they are suffering financial hardship while awaiting an interview and processing of their claim. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as chief executive of Jobcentre Plus.
If a customer states that they are suffering financial hardship during the inbound call to a contact centre then staff are advised to try to book an immediate call back to complete the claim form. If this is not possible then staff will notify the relevant benefit processing centre to ask them to consider an interim payment or Social Fund referral.
If a customer states that they are suffering financial hardship when we complete the outbound call then contact centre staff aim to arrange for an emergency interview at the local office to progress the claim urgently. If this is not possible then contact centre staff will book the first available appointment and then pass the customers details onto the relevant benefit processing centre for them to consider an interim payment or Social Fund referral.
The instructions issued to staff if Jobcentre Plus advises them of the method of meeting the urgent need and should be considered in order:
considering an Interim Payment on account of benefit: (an Interim Payment can be considered paid even if there are delays in arranging a Work Focused Interview);and/or
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