Asked by: David Winnick (Labour - Walsall North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Walsall North of 20 December 2016 on housing benefit policy and student loans on behalf of a constituent.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
I replied to the hon. Member on 17 January 2017.
Asked by: David Winnick (Labour - Walsall North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2017 to Question 59041, on members: correspondence, whether the information contained in that Answer relates to substantive replies being sent to hon. Members.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The performance data provided in the response to question 59041 to the hon. Member is in relation to substantive replies to Members correspondence.
Asked by: David Winnick (Labour - Walsall North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the hon. Member for Walsall North will receive a reply to his letter to the Benefit Director on 6 December 2016 on employment and support allowance; and what the reasons are for the delay in responding to that letter.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Department for Work and Pensions offers its apology for the delay in responding. We have been investigating the issues raised in your letter to the Benefit Director on 6 December.
Whilst the Department aims to provide a full response to MP enquires on behalf of their constituents within 15 working days, there will be occasions where, for a variety of reasons this is not possible. In this case additional information received from the customer generated further enquiries. Regrettably, the MP's office was not kept informed of progress when it became clear in this particular case there would be a delay. A full response has now been issued to the hon. Member.
Asked by: David Winnick (Labour - Walsall North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether in his meetings with the Benefits Director he has discussed the process of replies being sent to hon. Members.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Secretary of State holds regular meetings with the Director General, Operations to discuss operational matters and performance. The process of replies being sent to hon. Members has not featured in discussions to date, primarily because the Department’s performance in respect of the timeliness of responses is broadly on track. For the calendar year 2016, 89% of responses to hon. Members were issued within 15 days, against a target of 90% in 15 days. The 90% target reflects the fact that some matters raised by hon. Members can be particularly complex and, in such cases, it is not always possible to respond within 15 days.
Asked by: David Winnick (Labour - Walsall North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken is by the Benefit Director in his Department to reply to hon. Members' correspondence.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The average time taken by Benefit Directors to respond to hon. Members’ correspondence so far this calendar year is 12 working days.