HC Deb 08 January 2002 vol 377 cc701-2W
Annabelle Ewing

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will introduce freephone telephone numbers for the Benefits Agency. [23824]

Mr. Nicholas Brown

[holding answer 19 December 2001]: There are clearly benefits to be gained by offering Freecall and Local Call Rate services to Benefits Agency customers, but this has to be weighed against the cost to provide such services.

Where services are provided through a call centre, our policy is to offer telephone numbers which are chargeable at local call rates. This allows customers to be charged for the call at a local rate, regardless of the actual destination of that call within the UK. The Department meets the balance of the call cost. Further, where customers are likely to face significant difficulties in affording such charges, a Freecall number has indeed been provided. Customers are also able to ask for a call back from the Department rather than incurring personal call costs.

The Department is currently modernising the delivery of its services to customers. Both Jobcentre Plus and the Pensions Organisation are in the process of assessing the best use of the telephone for customer contact. We are exploring the use of a single Local Call Rate number for initial contact with the Department. Calls could then be directed automatically to the most appropriate contact point, based on the originating dialling code. We are still in the early stages of this assessment.

Mr. Tynan

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what is the cost of amalgamating the Benefits Agency and the employment services in the current year; [23361]

(2) what savings his Department will make over the next five years by amalgamating the Benefits Agency and the employment services. [23362]

Mr. Nicholas Brown

We have in the current year invested £122 million in establishing the new Jobcentre Plus pathfinder offices and in preparing for the wider integration of the Benefits Agency and the Employment Service more generally. We expect substantial savings to accrue from the creation of Jobcentre Plus over the next five years as we implement the new Jobcentre Plus network nationwide.