§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if every local authority had been invited by the end of January 1999 to join his Department's scheme to ensure that benefit post is not redirected; and how many have joined. [104619]
§ Angela EagleThe Royal Mail "do not redirect" service became legally operable from 1 February 1999. A circular was sent to all local authority housing benefit managers on 2 February 1999 describing the arrangements and inviting them to join the scheme.
At 14 January 2000, the Royal Mail had confirmed that 225 local authorities were using the service.