§ Miss WiddecombeTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the expense of retraining staff following the re-rolling from a full benefits office to a gateway of Medvale House, Madstone. [110437]
§ Angela EagleThis is a matter for Peter Mathison, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the right hon. Member.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Miss Ann Widdecombe, dated 17 February 2000:
The Secretary of State has asked me to respond to your Parliamentary Question about Maidstone Benefits Agency Office.Following the move of work from Maidstone in May 2000 there will be 24 staff who will need to be redeployed.Out of the 24 staff, 2 are already contracted to work in other offices. A further 3 are on long term career breaks and will not be affected by the moves of work in May. The assignments for the remaining 19 staff are not due to be decided until the end of February, in anticipation of moves in May. A number of those staff will be transferred to another location where their skills and knowledge will be fully utilised, doing the same type of work. Staff 788W moving to other offices on different duties will require training. However they will be filling posts that otherwise would be filled by new recruits who would have required extensive training. Therefore it is anticipated that the net cost of retraining will in effect be marginal.I hope this is helpful.