Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Statement of 8 February 2023 from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Social Mobility, Youth & Progression on Decommissioning of Temporary Jobcentres, UIN HCWS549, (a) on what date the decision was made to decommission and (b) on what date Jobcentre staff were notified of the decommissioning of the temporary Jobcentres at (i) Aylesbury; (ii) Bath; (iii) Blyth; (iv) Burnley; (v) Dundee; (vi) Gateshead; (vii) Halifax; (viii) Inverness; (ix) Ipswich; (x) Kettering; (xi) Leeds; (xii) Lincoln; (xiii) London Hackney; (xiv) London Kentish Town; (xv) London Sutton Carew; (xvi) London Tooting; (xvii) Stevenage; (xviii) Sunderland; (xix) Swindon; and (xx) Wigan.

The Department have always made it clear these sites are temporary, linked to the Plan for Jobs, and the interventions needed due to impact of the pandemic, and that we would look to decommission them at the appropriate time and move back into business as usual – as set out in two updates to Parliament on 23 March 2021 and 20 July 2022.

To that end, the Department’s governance process, and decision to decommission the temporary Jobcentres listed in the Written Statement of 8 February 2023, was finalised on 10 January 2023.

The Department shared the decision to decommission the temporary Jobcentres with the relevant staff for the sites listed in that Written Statement as soon as it was ready to do so – this took place via co-ordinated announcements at 9am on 8 February 2023.