§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when Pension Service staff(a) based in local pension surgeries and (b) carrying out home visits will be able to access central Pension Service IT records; and what arrangements for accessing pensioner records and adding new details will be in place until then. [68987]
§ Mr. McCartneyIt is planned that local service staff will be able to view a customer's details and record a narrative of ongoing action while on a home visit or conducting a surgery. We will bring in this functionality as soon as possible, but it will not be available for some time.
In the meantime local service staff will preview their cases at their base office where they will have access to the appropriate customer records.
They will not be able to input or amend any details of a customer's claim. The design intention has always been that all completed claim forms, information and verification details will be forwarded to the appropriate pension centre, which as "owner" of the claim, will be responsible for inputting information and amending existing records.