HC Deb 08 January 2002 vol 377 cc706-7W
Mr. Clappison

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if his Department met the target of ensuring that all staff in new Jobcentre Plus offices were fully trained by the end of November. [23278]

Mr. Nicholas Brown

Yes, with the exception of those staff absent from work because of their involvement in the ongoing industrial action or for other reasons. Those staff will be trained as soon as they return to work.

Mr. Clappison

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what additional risk assessments have been carried out in Jobcentre Plus offices following experience of their operation; and what the results were of such assessments. [23279]

Mr. Nicholas Brown

Full risk assessments were carried out in all of the Pathfinder offices before they opened and the recommendations of each assessment implemented in full. As planned, further assessments are now being undertaken in each office to review the original recommendations in the light of actual experience of the new offices in operation. So far 32 such assessments have been completed.

Early indications from the further assessments are that Jobcentre Plus offices are working as intended as are the previously recommended safety measures. The review visits have led to some minor changes to recommended control measures, reflecting updated details in the Generic Risk Assessment, and these are being implemented as they arise.

Mr. Clappison

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his answer of 14 November 2001,Official Report,column 785W, on Jobcentre Plus, what contingency plans are in place to ensure that customers continue to receive the benefits to which they are entitled in areas where Jobcentre Plus staff are undertaking strike action. [23372]

Mr. Nicholas Brown

Benefit payments have continued to be made in Jobcentre Plus Pathfinder offices using those staff who have remained at work supported, where appropriate, by staff redeployed from other areas. Where it has not been possible to make benefit payments under the normal procedures due to a lack of sufficient numbers of experienced staff, Pathfinder offices have made interim payments at an amount equivalent to the full benefit rate.

Mr. Webb

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reason he has not introduced the integrated claim form that was piloted in the ONE Call Centre pilots into the new Jobcentre Plus offices. [23677]

Mr. Nicholas Brown

The integrated claim form was piloted in the call centre variant of the ONE pilots. The valuable lessons learned from the ONE experience have been fed through to the new modernised Information Technology solutions for the Department for Work and Pensions that are planned to be rolled out to Jobcentre Plus offices from 2002. These will include an integrated claim form for customers to complete by telephone.