§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the percentage of business transactions that are capable of being carried out electronically by his Department. [43360]
§ Mr. Nicholas Brown[holding answer 14 March 2002]: Currently our customers can easily access electronic information on all our benefits and services via the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) website or through the life episodes on UKonline. People looking for work can access the worktrain website and Job Bank to interactively search for job opportunities—this is one of the most used Government sites.
In addition, almost 70 of our benefits have claim forms available on the internet which customers can access, fill out, print out and submit back to us. Electronic payments can also be made directly into customers' bank accounts.
But, in line with the cross-Government target of electronically e-enabling all services by 2005, and also rising trends in our customer base to use interactive media, we are undertaking a programme of radical change to our IT systems which will allow full e-enablement.