Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of her Department investigating complaints where phone records have been deleted.

The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost to the department.

The Data Protection Act (DPA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires that personal data is not kept longer than is necessary. If records have been deleted in accordance with our retention policy, we can still consider the complaint, and make a decision on a balance of probabilities.

The retention policy for complaints is designed to ensure that any records which are available at the outset, are retained throughout the life of the complaint.