Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many officials of his Department of each grade banding have undergone more than 12 hours of training on universal credit; and how many such officials of each grade banding he forecasts will have undertaken such training on completion of the full rollout of universal credit to all eligible claimants.

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) policy is to develop its staff in the skills and knowledge required to support a range of customers and deliver their services.

Universal Credit continues to be rolled out throughout the country and staff continue to be upskilled to support the implementation. I can confirm that to date the breakdown for DWP officials undergoing more than 12 hours of training on Universal Credit is as follows:

B/AO 5316

C/EO 6221

D/HEO 630

We are planning that all DWP staff who will be working with Universal Credit by the time of full roll out will have completed the required training. We plan on a flexible basis to meet customer demand and therefore forecasts vary.