Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the use of email as a method of communicating time-sensitive information to his Department’s customers.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) conducts regular reviews of the security risks and customer benefits of different communication methods with our customers, including email, and reflects this in our security policies and service design. At the last review, DWP’s Security & Data Protection Team took the decision to use more robust and secure methods of communication wherever possible. DWP will use email to communicate to customers where it is required as a reasonable adjustment.