Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) impact and (b) cost effectiveness of steps being taken by local authorities to increase levels of take up of Pension Credit; and if he will make a statement.

We are identifying a trial with local authorities of ‘Invitation to Claim’ letters sent to housing benefit recipients who do not claim Pension Credit.

We will analyse the results of this later this year. We do not undertake assessments of general Local Authority activity.