§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proportion of claimants of benefits other than the jobseeker's allowance make their first contact with the Benefits Agency by telephone(a) in the United Kingdom and (b) in Wales. [9353]
§ Mr. Roger EvansThis is a matter for Peter Mathison, chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
143WLetter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Nick Ainger, dated 18 December 1996:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what proportion of claimants of benefits other than the Jobseeker's Allowance make their first contact with the Benefits Agency (BA) by telephone (a) in the United Kingdom and (b) in Wales.The information is not available in the format requested. This is because there has been no UK customer survey on first contact with the BA since 7 October 1996, when Jobseeker's Allowance came into operation.The statistics available from the most recent customer contact research, conducted in 1995, show percentage of first contact with BA for six benefits. The research makes no distinction between the UK as a whole and individual countries within. Consequently a breakdown of the information to show data for Wales is not available.The findings of the research concluded that the percentage of benefit recipients whose first contacts with the BA were through the telephone was, by benefit: Income Support 35 per cent.. Social Fund 40 per cent., Retirement Pension 56 per cent., Family Credit 58 per cent., Disability Living Allowance 56 per cent. and Child Benefit 57 per cent.I hope you find this reply helpful.