HC Deb 07 November 2002 vol 392 cc667-9W
Mr. Willetts

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will list the telephone helplines run by his Department and its agencies including(a) the relevant telephone numbers and (b) how many calls each helpline has received in each of the last 12 months. [74729]

Mr. McCartney

The following tables list: the numbers of calls received for each of the last 12 months by each helpline run by the Department for Work and Pensions for which figures are collected centrally; and the published telephone numbers for each of these centres.

Helpline International Pension Centre Pension Direct Retirement Pension Teleclaims Retirement Pension Forecasting Team5 Minimum income Guarantee Claimline Benefit Enquiry Line DLA AA
Jul-02 16,550 97,403 38538 47,861 20,042 110,567 416,802
Aug-02 13,879 88,175 34325 39,506 15,515 129,478 347,579
Total 176,420 1,165,918 464,365 426,066 196,655 1,338,054 4,523,224
Notes:
1 Closed in March upon the foundation of Jobcentre Plus and The Pension Service.
2 Opened in April following the formation of Jobcentre Plus and the Pension Service.
3 Employer Direct—The 11 centres were established incrementally mainly during 2001. Meaningful national figures are only available from January 2002.
4 The first of the two telephone numbers shown is in widest use.
5 The first of the two telephone numbers shown was introduced recently but the second number is still used widely.