Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps are taken to allow people to request and verify the information held on them by his Department.

DWP has well published processes for customers to request access to the information that the Department holds about them; on its web pages, in its Privacy Statement that is available on-line and in hard copy, and in its published reports. Requests may be handled as business as usual or as a Subject Access Request in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. Regardless of the manner of the request and response the customer will receive the full record of their personal information relating to their request.

DWP has a duty to ensure that its customer records are fully maintained, up to date and accurate, and will routinely amend records from information that it has received in the normal course of its customer engagement or following a specific request.