HC Deb 28 February 2000 vol 345 cc181-2W
Mr. Mackinlay

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many staff were working in the office of the Independent Tribunal Service at Sutton on 4 January; [110756]

(2) how many faxes were received by the Independent Tribunal Service at Sutton, Surrey over the Christmas and New Year period; and on what dates each was processed; [I 10757]

(3) if the Independent Tribunal Service at Sutton, Surrey (a) collected and (b) had delivered its incoming recorded delivery mail on 4 January. [110758]

Angela Eagle

Administration of the Appeals Service (formally the Independent Tribunal Service) is the responsibility of the Chief Executive, Neil Ward. I have asked him to write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from N. D. Ward to Andrew Mackinlay, dated 9 March 2000: I am writing in reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about the service at our Sutton office over the Christmas and New Year period. We are committed to improving the quality of service we provide to all who use or rely upon our Service. We deal with many thousands of appeals every year without incident, but I recognise that each appeal is of great importance to the individual who makes it. We strive, therefore, to provide the best service possible to every appellant in their given circumstances, whatever the period of the year. Over holiday periods we maintain sufficient—if inevitably lower—levels of staffing at all our offices. There were 39 staff working our Sutton office on 4 January 2000. The Sutton office is situated next door to the local Post Office and it is our practice to collect mail from them every working day morning. Staff did collect incoming recorded delivery main on 4 January 2000 and the letters were distributed to the appropriate staff during the course of that morning. I am unable to say how many faxes were received at the Sutton office over the Christmas and New Year period. There are three fax machines in the Sutton office and because of the volume of activity, a log of incoming faxes is not kept. Faxes received are regularly taken from the machines and distributed to the relevant processing teams. It is not possible to say when each of the faxes was processed. I hope that this reply is helpful. Please contact me should you require any further information.