Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding has been provided to the Rapid Response Service in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last five years; and what the staffing level of that service was in each of those areas in those years.

The overall funding for Rapid Response by DWP in the UK was:

· 2010-11 £7.100m

· 2011-12 £3.000m

· 2012-13 £4.037m

· 2013-14 £4.000m

This spend is captured at a National level and is unable to be split into Scotland and Wales data without a disproportionate cost to disaggregate. Northern Ireland is not within the jurisdiction of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Rapid response activities are part one of an advisor’s job so it is not possible to identify specific staff time utilised on Rapid Response.

Budget data can only be provided for the 4 years from 2010/ 11 to 2013/14 as historic changes in the accounting systems mean that 2009/10 information is not available.