Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time is which a caller to a Department for Work and Pensions telephone line which is not free to call is made to wait while on hold, when listening to a pre-recorded message or selecting options at the start of a telephone call; and what the financial gain is to his Department from the charge levied for a call of that length.

This data relates to non-0800 calls and represents the period from the point a customer enters a queue to the point they are connected to an agent, and is drawn from Working Age, Pension Age, Disability and Universal Credit services but excludes Child Maintenance Group. From July 2014 the average speed to answer for such telephony lines was 3 minutes 20 seconds.

Prior to 1^st April no revenue was received for 0845 but with effect from 1st April 2014, the Department changed procedures to receive a rebate equivalent to 0.3 pence per minute for calls to its 0845 services: this, includes time listening to pre-recorded information, selecting call routing options and waiting for an available agent. This arrangement is in line with Cabinet Office guidance published in December 2013 and is not revenue but used to offset Direct Spend on other services provided by the same supplier. In addition, the Department can confirm that benefit claim lines operate 0800 free numbers. For other help lines the Department is introducing 0345 numbers in addition to its 0845 numbers (customers can then choose the cheapest call option dependent on their telephone or mobile operator.)