§ Mr. CartwrightTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many of his Department's local offices in Greater London he now plans to close; and what steps he is taking to ensure that income support claimants in the affected areas will still be able to have personal access to officers dealing with their cases.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardThe Department announced on 16 January that in order to improve service to customers in London it was moving backroom work not requiring face-to-face contact with the public out of 21 London local offices. Such work will be processed in three social security centres (SSCs) in Glasgow, Belfast and Ashton-in-Makerfield near Wigan.
I must stress that the Department has no plans to close any of its offices in London as a result of this relocation of work. A full network of branch offices will be retained in London to carry out that work which does need face-to-face contact with our customers. Indeed, we are planning to open wholly new branch offices in two localities—Wembley and Dulwich—where we do not have any provision at the moment.
Social security claimants in the areas affected by the relocation of work will be able to call at any branch office 148W in their district to conduct their business. Alternatively, by using a special telephone number, they will be able to talk directly to the person dealing with their claim in the social security centre. All calls to the SSC will be charged at the London local call rate.