Benefits Agency (Telephone Calls) (Hansard, 10 February 1999)

§ Angela Eagle

This is a matter for Peter Mathison, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Mike Hancock, dated 9 February 1999:

I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Questions asking, what estimate has been made of the proportion of telephone calls made to Benefits Agency (BA) offices which are not answered within the target times, how many complaints concerning the failure of BA offices to answer telephones promptly he has received in each of the last three years, and what targets he has set the BA concerning the answering of telephone calls.

The information is not available in the format requested. At present the Agency does not have a national target covering telephone response times, although each individual District sets and publishes its own target.

The BA introduced a series of measurement checks last year which included telephone call response times. The first year's checks will be completed by the end of March 1999 and figures reflecting this period of measurement will be available by the end of April 1999. The measurement checks will produce figures, including average telephone response times, which are statistically valid within each of the Agency's 17 Area and Benefit Directorates.

The Agency does not maintain national records of the number of complaints received in respect of telephone response times although individual Districts maintain complaints information which is analysed and used to improve services locally.

The BA is currently piloting new complaints handling procedures, designed to ensure that all offices which deal with the public, record and collate complaints in a consistent way. Once the results of the pilot exercise have been evaluated we will consider how best to introduce the most effective system.

I hope you find this reply helpful.