HC Deb 27 April 2004 vol 420 cc953-4W
Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what aspects of the work in his Department's offices it(a) Portsmouth, (b) Southampton and (c) the Isle of Wight have been (i) relocated and (ii) centralised in each of the last three years; [151633]

(2) how many of his Department's offices have been closed in (a) Portsmouth, (b) Southampton and (c) the Isle of Wight in each of the last three years. [151634]

Jane Kennedy

Jobcentre Plus and the Pension Service are modernising the services we provide to our customers. This modernisation is increasing the number of places where people can get information about work and benefits. All decisions made about the centralisation or relocation of work are informed by the particular needs of their customers; nationally, regionally and at district level. For example, the pension Service have centralised and relocated benefit processing based on customer feedback that pensioners prefer to make contact by phone rather than calling at an office.

In Portsmouth, no Jobcentre Plus offices, Jobcentres or Social Security offices have been relocated, centralised or closed.

In Southampton, the processing of incapacity benefit and jobseekers allowance claims has been relocated from Southampton Social Security office to Totton Customer Service Centre. No other Jobcentre Plus offices, Jobcentres or Social Security offices in Southampton have been relocated, centralised or closed.

In the Isle of Wight, the processing of incapacity benefit and jobseekers allowance claims has been relocated from Fareham Social Security office to Isle of Wight offices. The processing of Income Support claims has been relocated from the Isle of Wight to Fareham Jobcentre Plus. All Jobseeker Direct work has been relocated to the Dundee Contact Centre. No other Jobcentre Plus offices, Jobcentres or Social Security offices on the Isle of Wight have been relocated, centralised or closed.

All pensions processing and inquiries for Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight have been relocated to the Wrexham Pensions Centre. Local Pension Service teams are based in Portsmouth, Southampton' and Newport.