§ Mr. BrowneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many(a) inquiries and (b) requests for assistance about constituency problems have been received from members of the Scottish Parliament by the Benefits Agency Scottish Parliamentary Relations Unit since it was established; and if he will list the numbers according to (a) constituency and (b) originating MSP. [113648]
§ Angela EagleThe information is not available in the format requested as correspondence between Members of the Scottish Parliament and this Department is treated as confidential. Such information as is available is as follows.
The Benefits Agency, Scottish Parliamentary Relations Unit (SPRU) deals with correspondence received by the Chief Executive and Departmental Ministers. Since it was established in October 1999 SPRU has dealt with seven inquiries and five requests for assistance with customers' problems from MSPs. In addition 31 pieces of correspondence have been received from MPs who are also MSPs.