Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to increase the (a) efficiency and (b) accessibility of telephone services provided by his Department.

As part of DWP’s Service Modernisation programme, the Modernising and Transforming Telephony Project was formed. The project is looking at technologies available to improve and support DWP’s future telephony demand. User research from customers, agents and providers is at the centre of their design and build approach. The first enhancement will involve the introduction of ‘DWP’s Virtual Agent’’ this will support customers through their telephony journey and best determine how to respond or help with their enquiry. The objective of this technology is route calls to the right person or support available at the right time and providing a better overall customer experience than now. Starting with Universal Credit; we then plan to introduce this technology further over the next 3 years*. In terms of accessibility, this technology has been fully approved to standards required and will not replace, but complement the pre-existing support available for those customers who require it such as Relay UK and Video Relay Service.