§ Dr. MarekTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the number of claimants who tried, but were unable, to contact the Wrexham Benefits Agency office by telephone during the periods of telephone service interruption between 27 and 29 November. [7457]
§ Mr. Roger EvansThis is an operational matter for Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to hon. Member.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Dr. John Marek, dated 5 December 1996:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what estimate he has made of the number of claimants who tried, but were unable to contact the Wrexham Benefit Agency by telephone during the periods of telephone service interruption between the 27th and 29th of November.On 27 and 28 November there was an interruption to the telephone service of 45 minutes and 2 minutes respectively. Wrexham office received 657 and 717 calls on those days against an average for November of 663. This would indicate that there was not a significant loss of calls.On 29 November there was a prolonged interruption of 3 hours 45 minutes. Our information shows that 250 fewer calls were received than on average.These interruptions are due to technical problems which are currently being investigated by engineers. Every effort is being made to identify and rectify this intermittent fault.I apologise for this interruption to the telephone service.I hope you find this reply helpful.