§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the winter fuel payments advertising campaign. [46471]
§ Mr. McCartneyThis year's Winter Fuel Payment advertising campaign has closely mirrored campaigns from previous years which gave people two routes for claiming; a Helpline and a claim form on press adverts. During the press advertising the Department gathered information from people who rang the Winter Fuel Payment Helpline to find out where they had found out about the Helpline.
As of 15 March 2002, 278,643 claim forms had been issued from the Helpline of which 217,678 had been returned along with 4,494 Internet forms. The Helpline had also received 22,915 coupons in response to national press advertising.