HC Deb 07 November 2002 vol 392 cc663-5W
Mr. Key

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employees there are broken down by function at(a) Avon House Jobcentre, Salisbury, (b)

Office Name Verbally Abused Threatened Actual Physical Assaults Number of times the Police were asked to attend Number of prosecutions
Avon House Salisbury 11 7 3 3 0
Amesbury Jobcentre 0 1 0 0 0
Summerlock House Salisbury 3 1 1 0 0

Amesbury Jobcentre and (c) Summerlock House, Salisbury; and what plans he has to change the number of jobs, broken down by function, at each location. [80301]

Mr. Nicholas Brown

The number of staff and the functions they perform in the two jobcentres are as follows:

Salisbury Jobcentre Amesbury Jobcentre
Employer Services 1 1
Personal Advisers 7 1
Customer Services 9 2
Jobseeker's Allowance claims processing 6 0
Programme Centre 2 0
Management and Office services 1 1
Total 26 5

In the Summerlock House Social Security Office the staff deployment is as follows:

Customer Services 7
Income Support claims processing 8
Incapacity Benefit claims processing 10
Home visiting 2
Management and Office services 5
Counter Fraud Investigation Service 4
Minimum Income Guarantee claims processing 2
Retirement Pension claims processing 19
Total 57

There are no plans to make significant changes to job functions in the short term. In the longer term the migration of existing Jobcentres and Social Security Offices into fully integrated Jobcentre Plus offices and the development of The Pensions Service may lead to changes in job functions in order to deliver improved services to customers.

Mr. Key

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many of his staff at(a) Avon House Jobcentre, Salisbury, (b) Amesbury Jobcentre and (c) Summerlock House, Salisbury were (i) threatened, (ii) verbally abused and (iii) physically assaulted in 2001; on how many occasions the police were called; and how many prosecutions followed. [80300]

Mr. Nicholas Brown

The number of incidents recorded during 2001 was as follows:

Whilst clearly unacceptable, the physical assaults that occurred were minor incidents in which no member of staff sustained serious injuries.