HC Deb 17 March 2004 vol 419 cc321-2W
Mr. Webb

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many regular pension service drop-in and appointment surgeries have been established(a) in each region, (b) in each local authority cluster, (c) in each constituency and (d) in total. [160351]

Malcolm Wicks

The information requested is not available in the format requested.

The information that is available is the number of surgeries offering appointments and a drop-in facility and the number of surgeries offering appointment only in each region, and is provided in the following table.

Region Number of surgeries offering both appointments and a drop-in facility Number of surgeries offering appointments only
South West 200 31
South East 303 22
London 146 63
East Midlands 451 72
West Midlands 294 18
Wales 133 29
North West 209 27
North East 197 103
Scotland 0 268
Total 1,933 633

Details of local service surgeries can be obtained by telephoning the single 'lo call' access number for The Pension Service, which is 0845 60 60 265. Locally surgery information is often available in libraries, GP surgeries, and advertised in the local press and radio.