§ 33. Mr. BaronTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Pension Service in meeting the needs of all pensioners. [63420]
§ Mr. McCartneyIt is very early days yet but we are committed to making a real difference to the lives of pensioners.
The Pension Service, formally launched on I April 2002, will provide a modern, efficient and customer focused service, dedicated to combating poverty and encouraging saving for both today's and future pensioners.
It will comprise centralised pension centres working with an improved local service nationwide which will operate in the community working with local partners to provide face to face contact for pensioners. To date ten pension centres are starting to establish themselves along call-centre lines as planned.
86WA key aim of The Pension Service is to provide an excellent customer service by making use of the advances in new technology. This will be done through our call-centres. Customers can access us easily through a simple range of telephone numbers, and can get their claims and queries dealt with quickly by trained experts who understand state pensions and the needs of their customers.
We fully recognise that not everyone can access the service using the telephone, post or internet—and for those customers there will be a community based local service.
On current planning assumptions the local service is being introduced on a phased basis and should be in place nationwide by October 2002. It will be made up of two key elements. A direct local service, providing support directly to customers which will include a targeted visiting service both in the home and at third party locations, and a 'drop in' surgery service for outreach and take up activities; and partnership services provided with partners such as local authorities and voluntary sector organisations.
The Pension Service sees a key shift in emphasis from processes to people: their needs, what they want and the way they want it delivered. This improved service will be rolled out over the next few years. In the interim, our customers will continue to deal with their existing social security offices until they are contacted in writing about the new arrangements.