Benefits Agency (Hansard, 11 February 2002)

§ Mr. Nicholas Brown

This is a matter for Alexis Cleveland, Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. She will write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Alexis Cleveland to John Cryer, dated 6 February 2002: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has asked me to respond to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what steps he is taking to improve standards of decision making at the Benefits Agency (BA) in response to the President of the Appeals Service Report on Standards of Decision Making by the Secretary of State 2000–01. The BA Board receives regular reports on Decision Making and Appeals standards at its monthly meeting and monitors the situation closely. The President's quarterly reports are seen by the BA Standards Committee who consider the Judge's observations when framing recommendations for BA Board for future improvement activities. In addition the BA has reviewed its procedures and has introduced measures to more closely align the consideration of the President's conclusions alongside its processes for handling recommendations from other groups, such as Internal Audit. Early evaluation following the introduction of Decision Making and Appeals, and research undertaken by the Standards Committee, confirmed the need to review the training available to support Decision Makers. Refresher training on Decision Making and Appeals principles has therefore been delivered and Training Services have re-designed two of their packages to support staff, Appeals presentation and Appeals preparation. Both packages reinforce the need to reconsider a decision where new evidence has come to light or errors have been found. The training builds on products developed locally by trainers and has undergone extensive quality assurance by a range of key stakeholders and is one of a series of products designed to support Decision Makers in the BA. The resulting new products were distributed to delivery staff in October; others are planned for introduction later in the year. An internal review covering the quality of decision making, guidance and training available following the introduction of these measures is currently underway. The BA Board will consider any further recommendations for improvement as a result of the review. In conclusion, many decision errors are purely procedural and do not effect the correct level of payment being made to the customer. However, the BA takes all decision making errors seriously and is taking positive action to address the issues raised. I hope this is helpful.